Easier to Lie
by Rubiks
Summary: Couples are being brutally murdered in a small town near Staten Island, but a combination of the weather, personal problems and a quickly devolving unsub makes this case one of the BAU's most difficult yet.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Christmas has come and gone and yet I still do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters. Santa obviously decided I hadn't been good enough.

**Author's Note(s):** That's right, folks. I'm back with another story instalment. Now, this actually follows on from the last piece of fanfiction I wrote, namely 'Flawless' (an uninspired title I know). However it is not necessary for you to have read it, though I would recommend doing so as I will mention things that happened in it a good few times. Basic gist for anybody who has not read 'Flawless', JJ and Prentiss got kidnapped by crazy unsub, took a bit of a beating and then got rescued (an uninspired plot line I know). Oh yea and Reid decided to quit drugs at the end.

This story will follow the same format of the first, meaning that I will switch character perspectives for each chapter. I love all of them so I can't only write from one person's point of view without wanting to move on. Keeps the story interesting I feel and stops me from getting bored.

Anywho, that's enough rambling from me. I hope you enjoy the first chapter :).

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 1

Three weeks. That was how long it had been. That was how long it had been since JJ, along with her colleague and friend, had been snatched from her hotel room in the middle of the night. It had been three weeks since she had looked upon the face of her abductor and three weeks since he had beaten her almost to the point of unconsciousness. And yet, every night for the past three weeks had been filled with nightmares where his face was all JJ could see. Surely three straight weeks was enough suffering? Surely now after this point JJ would be able to move on and finally get that good nights uninterrupted sleep that she so desperately craved. But alas, it was not meant to be.

JJ woke with a gasp. She quickly shoved the oppressive blankets that pinned her to her bed onto the floor, almost as though it was them that were attacking her and not the man in her dream. As the cold night air hit her skin she immediately regretted her actions and scrambled to the bottom of her bed to retrieve them.

Wrapping the blankets around her thin shoulders, JJ leaned back heavily on her headboard and closed her eyes. She let herself the shiver against the cool air and allowed herself just a few moments of weakness before she would have to carefully fit the mask of professional indifference onto herself ready for work. JJ was fairly sure that everyone saw through her, but it gave her a sense of normalcy that helped to get her though the day.

JJ wondered if Emily was having the same problems. If she was then the older woman was doing a much better job at hiding it than JJ. It made no sense. They had both been taken, both had been through the exact same thing, and yet Emily seemed to have made a quick recovery. In the first two weeks JJ had stayed in Emily' guest room. It was so neither of them had to be alone for a while. But after they had gone back to work, JJ had moved out and back into her own home. At first she had been relieved that she would have her own space and be in familiar settings again, but that feeling quickly faded and for some reason she felt rather lonely.

No matter what time JJ had got up out of bed and went downstairs, Emily was always there before her cooking breakfast for them both. It was an uncanny knack she seemed to have of predicting when JJ would choose rise and would plan her breakfasts to the exact time. Sometimes it had annoyed her slightly, JJ had never been a breakfast type of person and sometimes it was just too early for her to eat. But she would eat the food anyway to make Emily happy. Now she had become used to having breakfast and was forced to add it to her daily routine before she went to work. It was rather a bit of effort when she had just got up in the morning though, JJ wondered how Emily had the energy to keep up making bacon and eggs and other such foods every morning. It was nice to know that someone cared enough to do that for her, especially when they were dealing with their own issues at the same time.

With a small groan, JJ rose from her bed and moved to stand by her window. She gently pushed the curtains aside and gazed wistfully out into the street. It was more peaceful than any street had the right to be when such tragedies where happening in so many other places around the country. Her stare fell onto the lone maple tree that adorned the sidewalk in the middle of a small patch of grass. The last few dying leaves clung hopelessly to their branches as the wind struggled to separate them. It was with a heavy heart that JJ watched a particularly strong gust succeed in dislodging one of the brown leaves from its pitiful twig from which it was so dependant on for life. It fluttered slowly to the ground.

Even though JJ was surrounded by people all day, she had never felt quite so alone before.

* * *

It turned out to be one of those days were the sun shone brightly and clearly, and yet outside it was still freezing cold. JJ suspected it was something done purposely by some sort of weather God to lull people into a false sense of security, only for them to find that they had underdressed and would have to fight against the chilly air until they could finally go home again. Luckily, JJ would not be fooled by such trickery, and had wrapped up warmly before going to work.

"Good morning, JJ," said Reid in a tired voice as she passed him on the way to her office.

She glanced up at him and fixed a false smile on her face, "Good morning."

With no small amount of surprise, JJ noted that Reid looked like he had not slept in several years. Dark bags hung under his eyes and if possible he looked even thinner than he normally did. One of the good things about being a woman was the fact that JJ could use makeup to hide her exhaustion, Reid had no such luxury. Rather than mention it though, she merely nodded and carried on her way to the interminable heap of files that awaited her.

As expected, when JJ opened the door to her office she was greeted by a pile of work that seemed to have multiplied over night. Whenever she seemed to be making headway with it, more was simply added. Sometimes JJ really hated her job.

She took off her coat and hung it over the back of the door. Might as well get comfortable, she thought. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

JJ felt her entire body stiffen as she held in her hands a case that could not be ignored. Words could not describe how much she didn't feel ready to be carted off to another state and track down yet another serial killer. She didn't feel quite ready to leave the comfort and safety of her own home again just yet. But she quickly put these feelings of doubt to one side. She refused to allow her emotions control over her.

It was not difficult to round up the team into the briefing room. They had become so accustomed to the grim way JJ would walk out of her office with a case file that they knew when they were needed before she had even opened her mouth.

Now she stood before them all, a remote control in hand and the pictures of two couples on the screen behind her. Each of them stared at either her or the screen as she opened her mouth to speak. Well, everyone but Reid who was gazing intently at his hands as though there was something of immense interest on them that he couldn't quite drag his attention from.

"Four victims in two weeks," JJ began, pleased to note that her voice was perfectly steady and hinted at none of the trepidation she was feeling, "The first couple where found in a park in the middle of a small town just outside of New York and the second couple were found in their car just outside the same park."

JJ pointed the remote control at the screen and clicked the arrow button twice. A montage of pictures appeared displaying the mutilated corpses of the four victims.

"There are signs of torture on the two women before they were stabbed to death shortly after. The men were both killed by a single stab to the heart. The coroner says that as the deaths were so close together it is impossible to tell whether the man or woman was killed first in either case."

Morgan tapped his pen on the desk and said thoughtfully, "So the women are the primary target, and the men are just the afterthought?"

"No, he could just as easily target women alone rather than go to the trouble of seeking out couples. He needs the man to be there," Hotch said to no one in particular.

"We won't know for sure until we see the crime scene, but the killer looks to be organised," Reid began, "If he carries a knife around then may be hunting for his victims, maybe even stalking them before he kills them."

"But look how messy the crime scene is," Morgan interjected, "Organised killers tend to be cleaner and more precise. The marks on the women's faces, they don't correspond. There is no method to them."

Hotch was nodding almost imperceptibly at what both profilers were saying, "We can talk more about it on the plane," he said, effectively cutting off whatever Reid was about to say, "Wheels up in an hour."

Morgan and Reid left the room quickly, but just before Emily left, Hotch caught her shoulder.

She flinched at the contact, and even though it was barely noticeable, JJ knew Hotch realised and he quickly withdrew his hand before speaking.

"Emily, sit down please. You too JJ," he turned to look at JJ, his dark eyes unreadable.

Putting her file down on the table, JJ slowly obeyed, not at all liking where she suspected this was going. By her stiff movements JJ guessed Emily was equally reluctant to do as she was told, but her face betrayed nothing as she sat down in the chair next to JJ so they were both facing Hotch.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Emily asked after no one spoke for a moment.

Hotch paused before taking the seat opposite them, he spoke slowly as though selecting each of his words very carefully, "I know this has come quickly, and I will understand if you want to stay here for this case."

"No thank you," JJ said quickly, "We'll be fine."

Hotch pursed his lips, he had obviously been expecting this answer even if he didn't entirely approve of it, he turned to Emily, "Is this how you feel too?"

"It is, sir," she said.

Putting his hands on the table to push himself up, Hotch nodded and said, "I will see you in an hour then."

JJ felt a great surge of relief when he had left the room, it was very unnerving to be under the careful scrutiny of Aaron Hotchner. She could only imagine how intimidating it must be to be on the receiving end of one of his interrogations. As she stood to leave the room, JJ's eyes briefly met Emily's, but they both quickly looked elsewhere and went their separate ways.

* * *

**Author's Note(s):** It aggrieves me to inform you that I shan't be posting every day like I did with 'Flawless'. I'm actually still on holiday and it's taken me two weeks to write this chapter. For a holiday I've been very active and I'm always too tired when I get back. I do have half of chapter 2 written though so hopefully it will only be a couple of days. Those of you who kept up with my last fic know how hard I worked to get in a chapter as often as humanly possible, so I hope you'll believe me when I say that I shall try my utmost to post as frequently as I am able. I get home in about a week anyway so provided my social life doesn't take a dramatic turn for the better you can expect regular updates from me :)

I didn't actually want to post this until I got back and could update every day…but I'm weak and having a chapter and not posting it was bugging me.

Constructive criticism is highly appreciated. It won't offend me in any way and will only serve to improve my writing, which can only be a good thing, right?

Next chapter is from Hotch's point of view :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s):** A huge thank you to bumblebee917, didi2909, smokeylove and anhey for reviewing that first chapter :) And also to everyone who is reading!

I know it's starting off a bit slow with not much happening. I will try and pick up the pace as soon as possible. I hope you like this chapter.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 2

This was supposed to be his weekend with Jack. Haley had agreed to let Hotch look after him for two full days. But naturally, as luck would have it, this was the weekend they had been given a new case, and unless he and his team could wrap it up in the next twenty-four hours it was unlikely he would make it back. The inevitable phone call he would have to make to let Haley know was not one he was looking forward to.

"It's possible the unsub doesn't live in the town," Reid said, effectively rousing Hotch from his dark thoughts, "Look how close it is to Staten Island. If the unsub doesn't want to kill too close to his home then it would only be a forty minute drive."

"I have a friend who lives in Staten Island," Prentiss said in an oddly detached voice, staring off out the window. It was obvious that she wasn't really listening to word Reid was saying. Hotch exchanged a brief look with Morgan. Neither of them were happy that JJ and Prentiss had insisted on coming with them for this case.

"The fact that he used a knife could suggest the unsub is impotent," said Hotch, pulling one of the crime scene photographs towards himself to look at the injuries more closely.

"Or it could be some sort of work tool and the most readily available weapon for him. It depends what type of knife it is," Reid added.

Hotch happened to glance at the laptop on the table just as Garcia accessed it. No doubt to give them some information on the victims. Sometimes Hotch didn't know what he and team would do without Garcia to cheer them with her bright spirit and humorous nature. His job would be a lot harder without her there in the background to subtly boost the morale of his team. He wondered if she realised how important she was to everyone. Probably not.

"Hello, my lovelies," she said, watching them through the web cam.

"Hey, Sweetness," Morgan said with a smile, "What have you got for us?"

Even though he knew the shameless flirting between Garcia and Morgan reflected their close friendship rather than anything romantic, sometimes Hotch suspected there might be something more behind it. The way they sometimes looked at each other and the way Morgan's face would light up at the sound of her voice…occasionally it reminded Hotch of the way he and Haley had been in the first few years of their relationship. He felt a pang of regret but quickly pushed it to one side.

"I ran the victims through my systems and so far it's come up with nothing other than them living in the same area. However, using my wildly persuasive phone techniques I have found that they went to the same church on a Sunday. St Catherine's," she said, looking at each of them in turn before moving her attention back to Morgan.

"I knew you wouldn't let me down, Baby Girl," said Morgan in reply.

Garcia smiled, "I'll let you know if I find anything else."

With that her face disappeared from the screen.

"I wonder who she called," said JJ with a bemused smile. She was sat opposite Reid but this was the first thing she had said for the entire journey. As always Garcia had somehow managed to restore some order in the team without even meaning to.

"She probably sweet talked some angels into giving her a private audience with God himself and then charmed the information out of him," said Morgan with a raised eyebrow.

JJ's smile widened, "It wouldn't surprise me."

No, it wouldn't surprise Hotch either.

"Okay, let's go over the details one more time," said Hotch. Then as JJ's smile faded he mentally cursed himself for spoiling her moment of happiness.

As his team spoke, Hotch pondered what the best course of action would be. Under no circumstances was he going to send JJ and Prentiss off on their own anywhere. Either he or Morgan would stay with them at all times. Or Reid he supposed. Preferably not though, the boy was looking a bit worse for wear at the moment and could do without the extra burden of looking out for his colleagues.

"When we land," began Hotch once silence had fallen, "I want everyone at the crime scene. We can split up and look at both of the murder sites."

Everyone nodded and then moved to move comfortable chairs so they could relax before the madness would begin again.

* * *

The first thing Hotch noted as the team stepped off the plane was how the looming dark clouds rolled across the sky, threatening either snow or rain depending on how cold it was when they could finally absorb no more water and burst. The second thing that he filed away in his mind was how small and desolate this landing strip was. For once Reid hadn't bombarded them with statistics on how many people lived in the area they were searching, but by the looks of things it didn't have a very big population.

"Hi," said a dark haired man as they drew level with him, "I'm Sheriff Regal."

He held his hand out and Hotch shook it. Regal seemed to be rather pompous, he carried a self important air about himself that Hotch took an immediate dislike to.

"I'm SSA Hotchner and this is my team SSA Morgan, Prentiss, Jareau and Doctor Reid," Hotch said, inclining his head towards each person as he said their name.

Sheriff Regal nodded his head and turned to lead them to a couple of cars. Something in his demeanour suggested to Hotch that the man didn't really want them there.

"I'll take you to the crime scene." the Sheriff said.

* * *

It wasn't a particularly remarkable crime scene. Not much more could be gleaned from it than what the team had already talked about using the crime photographs for reference.

What Hotch was more interested in was how JJ and Prentiss would react. He had to admit he was almost disappointed when neither of them made any outward sign that they were affected. Hotch worried that if they didn't deal with what happened to them properly it could lead to some serious problems. Like it had done with Reid.

"Well?" a voice from behind him said impatiently.

Hotch turned and looked down to find Sheriff Regal stood uncomfortably close. He looked down his nose at the Sheriff, noticing for the first time how short he was.

"Excuse me?" Hotch said, maintaining the air of professionalism he kept at all times.

"What can you tell us mere mortals about our murderer that we don't already know?" said Sheriff Regal disdainfully.

From just a few feet away, Morgan looked up and narrowed his eyes at the Sheriff. Hotch knew exactly what he was thinking. If the man didn't want their help then why on earth had he called.

"After I consult with my team we will give a formal briefing back at the station," Hotch said, keeping eye contact with the sheriff until the other man looked away.

Hotch berated himself for the childish satisfaction he got from winning his little staring competition, but sometimes it was the small victories that made everything else more bearable. His team could do with a victory soon.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** This chapter is a little shorter than I'd have liked but I go home tomorrow and wanted to post beforehand. I have a nine hour flight to look forward tomorrow. I can hardly wait :p.

This story doesn't have nearly as much planning behind it as my last one did…so if you have any thoughts on where you'd like me to take it then please, let me know. Also is there is anyone in particular you would like to hear from in the next chapter?

Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **Rogueandkurt, bumblebee917, IheartTV'tv-lovin-hottie' (Hehe do you have some sort of nickname? That is such a mouthful!), didi2909, smokeylove, Angelus-Summers and withoutatacegirl – words cannot describe how much I appreciate your comments. You are too good to me. Thank you to everyone who is reading and I hope you like this chapter :)

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 3

Morgan couldn't help but feel a strong sense of foreboding on the drive to the hotel recommended by Sheriff Regal. It was ridiculous he knew. Lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice. It didn't stop him from surveying Prentiss out the corner of his eye though.

She seemed to sense him watching her, for she shifted uncomfortably in her seat and turned to stare out the window so Morgan could no longer see her face. He shook his head ever so slightly and turned his full attention back onto his driving.

They had been driving for more than half an hour, where ever this guy was leading them it was a fair distance away from the police headquarters and the crime scene. It was probably Regal's intention, Morgan thought on reflection. To keep them away. Why he had bothered to call them when he clearly didn't want their help was beyond Morgan. The guy had balls though, not many people would speak to Hotch the way he had done earlier.

Rounding a corner, the two cars in front finally came a slow down. Morgan looked up at the hotel they were staying at and his eyes widened. The place bore an eerie and striking resemblance to the Bate's Motel. He half expected Norman himself to walk out to greet them.

The sound of Prentiss opening the car door made Morgan realise that the others were waiting for them and he got out of the car to join them. Regal stood next to Hotch with a rather smug look on his face.

"Well here we are," the sheriff said, his eyes sweeping over the 'hotel' and lingering on the boarded up windows on two of the rooms.

No one quite knew what to say. Hotch opened his mouth to speak but Regal's phone rang.

"Sheriff Regal," he said putting the phone to his ear. Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Hello, Mother," Regal said coldly, "I told you not to call me in work…No…I…Yes, Mother…No…"

He walked away from the group, presumably to give himself and his mother some privacy.

"A boy's best friend is his mother," Prentiss quoted under her breath.

Morgan snorted, obviously she had made a Psycho connection too.

"Are we really going to stay here?" asked JJ, "It doesn't even look like it's open."

There was something that sounded like disgust in her voice, but beneath it Morgan was sure there was a hint of fear there. He felt an overwhelming urge to move closer to her and place a protective arm around her shoulder. He didn't though.

"Yes," said Hotch reluctantly, "Just for today and we'll find somewhere else tomorrow."

"It looks dirty," Reid said, eyeing the muddy footprints on the door.

"Right then," came Regal's voice from behind Morgan, "I'll leave you to it. Enjoy your evening and we'll see you bright and early at seven o clock."

He turned and left, but not before Morgan saw the unkind sneer on his face and the amused glance he shared with his deputy. It angered him far more than he knew it should have done. He tried to let it go though and followed his team into the broken down hole that they were supposed to spend the night in.

There was no one else in the hotel. Absolutely nobody. Not that Morgan could blame them. Who would willingly stay in this dump? On the plus side though, it meant they all had rooms next to each other. Not that anything bad was going to happen, but it was comforting to know that JJ and Prentiss were in the two rooms between his and Hotch's. Just in case.

He looked around his room miserably, there were questionable stains on the threadbare carpet and the sullied curtains that covered the cracked window were caked in dirt. The 'bathroom', which contained a shower with the head missing, and a toilet with no seat, had a hole in the door where the handle used to be. Morgan knew there was no way he was going to sleep tonight. He wondered if everyone else's room was equally horrific.

With a sigh he resigned himself to sitting on the plastic stool for the rest of the night. There was no point in even attempting to get some rest. As soon as this case was over, Morgan was going to make Regal suffer.

* * *

"So," Morgan said groggily, "Did anybody get any sleep last night?"

It was half past six in the morning and they were gathered in the 'lobby' waiting for Reid. The lack of response from Hotch, JJ and Prentiss told him all he needed to know.

"I could call Garcia when we're in the car and ask her to find us a proper hotel," Morgan offered.

The manager looked up at them from behind his desk and shot Morgan a look that was almost as filthy as his room had been. Morgan ignored him.

Hotch nodded his assent, "I think that would be a good idea."

It was at that point that Hotch's phone rang.

"Agent Hotcher," he said, and then he stopped talking. He remained silent for a whole two minutes before saying, "All right," and putting the phone down.

Luckily, Reid was on his way towards them and Hotch turned to speak to them, "That was Regal. There's been another murder. It looks like you could have been right about where he lives Reid, the bodies were found at the edge of town, just on the outskirts of Staten Island."

"He's devolving," Morgan observed.

"That would make sense. If he can no longer wait to get to the park where the other two couples were killed he could just be killing closer to home," Prentiss said. Morgan thought her voice sounded rather strained. It was probably due to her lack of sleep.

"It's happening pretty quickly," said Reid thoughtfully as the team made their way to the cars, "There was a two week break between the first and second kills and now he's killed again with only a day and a half in between?"

"He could be in a psychotic break," Morgan said, realising what Reid was getting at.

In contrast to everyone else, Reid actually looked and sounded rather chipper. It was puzzling. Out of all of them Morgan thought that Reid would be the least tolerant of the dirty mess, something was obviously wrong with the boy if he had managed to get a good nights sleep here. He stored that in the back of his mind to consider later, they had more pressing problems to deal with than Reid being in a suspiciously good mood.

Problems like how freaking cold it was outside. As they walked to the cars Morgan had to wrap his jacket around him as tightly as possible. He looked at the dark sky where storm clouds hung threateningly over their heads. The rain had held off so far but Morgan suspected they wouldn't be quite so lucky today.

* * *

The two bodies where in much the same condition as the last two Morgan had seen. There were more prominent signs of torture on the woman and by the looks of it the thing that had finally killed her was eleven stab wounds to the chest. It was massive overkill. If Morgan wasn't such a seasoned profiler he would have felt utterly sickened by the amount of blood that pooled on the ground and covered the woman's once pretty face. The man has only one stab wound through the heart, like the other male victims.

"Have the victims been identified yet?" Morgan asked Sheriff Regal who stood next to him.

"No," the sheriff said darkly, "The other victims were from my town so they were easily identified. No one has ever seen these people before though."

He then seemed to realise who he was talking too and his personality shifted back to that of the obnoxious man from the day before, "But surely you already know that? What with your ability to read minds and solve crimes so well that it makes everybody else ineffectual."

Morgan clenched his hand into a fist and turned away to speak to Hotch. It was then that he spotted JJ. She stood facing the crime scene, but wasn't actually looking at it. Her arms were crossed in a typical protective stance, but Morgan wasn't sure if this was due to the cold or for some other reason. He hoped for the former even though he knew it wasn't. He felt helpless; he knew neither JJ nor Prentiss would willingly come to talk to him or Hotch. They were both too stubborn for their own good. They needed help from somewhere though. Morgan resolved to talk to Hotch about it at the end of the day.

"Okay," Hotch said, catching everyone's attention with a single word, "We are going to go back to headquarters to give a formal profile. Then Reid and JJ, I want you to go and speak to the man that found the bodies. Morgan, Prentiss and I will start a geographical profile and see if Garcia has any leads for us."

It was only an hour after that when the first innocent snowflake fell from the sky.

* * *

**Author's Note(s): **Alas, back to reality for me.

Okay, so the next chapter is going to be a JJ and Reid bonding chapter. It will contain trouble, tears and tantrums. Well…maybe not that last one but I wanted another word beginning with 't'.

As always, a massive thank you to everyone and I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **Your kindness never ceases to amaze me. A massive thank you to Angelus-Summers, rogueandkurt, IheartTV 'tv-lovin-hottie' (Hehe didn't you briefly change your name at some point?), smokeylove (No I wasn't intending to make it a pairing to be honest. They are both in a pretty bad place right now and I'm not sure that would be a good start to a relationship), bumblebee917 and Dr. Cameron.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 4

"Reid! Will you slow down!"

Surprised, Spencer looked sideways at JJ, who was clinging to the inside of the car door as if for dear life. He took his foot off the accelerator pedal until they were going at what JJ seemed to deem a respectable speed.

"Better?" Spencer asked.

"Yes," JJ replied, pursing her lips.

Spencer grinned. He hadn't felt this good in the long time. For the last week he had been giving himself a smaller dose of dilaudid than he usually would. As much as it pained him he knew it had been for the best. But after trying to sleep in that horrific hotel room last night he knew he couldn't take it any more. Until the end of this case he was going to up his dosage again. How was he supposed to concentrate on the case when he was experiencing such awful withdrawal symptoms anyway? It was better this way. So this morning he had given himself a little more than he normally would have done and was feeling worlds better for it.

"How much further is it?" asked JJ, consulting a dog-eared map that Sheriff Regal had provided for them, "You know this actually has a smudge on the place we're going to."

"Don't worry. I checked on the internet before we left. I know where we're going. Should be there in about fifteen minutes," said Spencer, hoping he sounded reassuring.

Oddly, JJ still looked rather uneasy as she turned to look out the window. Spencer tried to ignore it though; she had looked like that since they started this journey more than an hour ago. Spencer felt that a more important question than how this man found the bodies was what on earth he was doing so far from home so early in the morning. It was a fairly long drive.

Snow was so beautiful, Spencer thought wonderingly. It was falling down gently, already covering the roads and fields in a thin white blanket. He wished the window wipers on this car were more effective though, they were rather slow and it was making for a difficult driving environment. Perhaps that was what was making JJ edgy.

"What is the guy's name again?" said JJ, interrupting Spencer's thoughts.

"David Canavan," he said immediately, "Says he was going shopping in Staten Island but overestimated how it would take him to get there, so he went for a walk and stumbled across the bodies."

"Are we here?" JJ said.

"What?"

Spencer looked forwards just in time to see a small house before he passed it. Without thinking he slammed on the breaks.

The car screeched and skidded across the ground before coming a stop with a jolt. Spencer was dimly aware of JJ exclaiming a list of expletives as they were thrown forward against their seatbelts.

"Ow!" JJ cried.

Spencer quickly undid his seatbelt and tried to steady his erratic breathing.

"JJ! Are you hurt?" he said, frantically trying to assess if she had any injuries.

Cradling her hand to her chest, JJ looked up with fury in her eyes, "Yes I'm hurt! I think I've sprained my wrist. What the hell possessed you to jam on the breaks?"

Spencer fumbled for words before offering a weak, "I…don't know."

A disgusted look was all he got as response as JJ used her good hand to open the car door and get out. He jumped to follow her and soon they found themselves at the front door of David Canavan's house where a feeble looking old man opened the door.

With a delighted smile, Spencer noted how heavy the snow was becoming. It was very pretty. He resisted the sudden urge to run out into the field and try to make snow angels. It would be silly because as soon as he did they would just fill up with snow again.

Instead he followed JJ into the warmth of the house, which in Spencer's opinion would be more appropriately be called a shack for it seemed to be half made of wood and shabby windows to keep in the heat.

* * *

Two hours, a cup of tea, and several chocolate biscuits later, Spencer and JJ were finally leaving Mr. Canavan's home. He had insisted they stay for a while and warm up. He had even bandaged JJ's wrist to stop herself from injuring it anymore. At first JJ had declined the offer of tea and biscuits but Spencer decided it would be rude to refuse him as well. He had seemed so upset when JJ had announced they were leaving so soon.

Now he regretted it. The snow was thickening and it was becoming increasingly difficult to drive. They should have left earlier.

"Hey, JJ?" Spencer said.

"Yes?" she replied. By her tone he could tell she was still annoyed with him for making them stay so long.

"Maybe you should call someone and let them know we are all right," he said, bracing himself for a snappy reply.

"I already tried," JJ said in a resigned voice, "There's no signal out here."

Damn.

"I don't think I can drive for much longer," Spencer said, thoroughly ashamed for not having thought of this potential problem, "The snow is too deep and I can barely see through the window."

He felt more than saw the glare that JJ shot in his direction.

Then, as if on cue, the engine seemed to splutter and cough. Spencer gripped the steering wheel tighter, as though that would stop the car from dying. Die it did though. Almost as though a cheesy writer of fiction were doing their best to make Spencer and JJ's life even more awkward than it already was.

As the car slowed to an eventual stop, Spencer leaned forward to rest his forehead on the steering wheel with a huge sigh. For a good five minutes neither of them moved or said anything. Spencer could practically hear the stream of swearwords running through JJ's head though.

The drugs were loosing their initial potency. Spencer could feel his endless source of energy slowly draining away. Every day this happened, and every day he felt a stab of terror when he realised he would have to fall back into reality where the world was so harsh and cruel. He tried to pull himself together and think of something to do. He looked up and turned to JJ. She was staring blankly at the snow that coated the front window, making it impossible to see.

"What are we going to do?" she said after noticing him looking at her, "We can't stay here. We'll freeze."

Spencer almost flinched at the tone of her voice. It was not one of anger as he was expecting, but one that could almost pass for cold indifference if not for the underlying hint of fear. He looked out of the side window; it was the only one that it was still possible to see out of. The only thing for miles around was what looked like a barn about a mile away.

"We are going to walk to that barn over there and see if we can find something to keep us warm," Spencer said, hoping he sounded like he knew what he was doing.

Thankfully, JJ didn't argue with him. He didn't miss the tension in her movements though. Or the growing look of apprehension on her face. It didn't occur to him at the time that taking JJ to a barn highly reminiscent of the one by Tobias Hankle's house while she was in this fragile state might not be a good idea.

* * *

**Author's Note(s):** I know I promised tears, tantrums and troubles, but the leading up to it was taking a tad longer than I was anticipating…so I'm going to break it down into two chapters and post this now as I think it would be preferable than waiting another day for me to finish it properly.

Next chapter could either be the second half to this one or I could go back to the rest of the team and do one about them realising that JJ and Reid are missing and such. Please let me know what you would prefer :)

Thank you again for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **As always, a huge thank you to my readers. Especially those of you that took the time to review, namely rogueandkurt, Dr. Cameron, bumblebee917, TV-Hottie, Angelus-Summers, smokeylove and tearbos. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 5

Together they made their way painfully slowly to where they knew there was shelter. Spencer and JJ clutched at each others arms as though they feared that if they got lost, they would never find each other again. The snow was coming down so heavily that it was difficult to see more than a few inches in front of their faces. The bitter wind took Spencer's breath away as he struggled to wade forward through the now calf deep snow.

Suddenly, JJ stumbled forward and landed face down on the ground. Spencer was almost dragged down with her, his fingers where actually frozen in their position around JJ's arm.

"Come on, JJ," he shouted over the howling winds, "You need to get up."

She didn't say anything but staggered to her feet and together they dragged each other towards the barn.

In a brief moment of panic, Spencer forgot which direction they were supposed to be going in. What if they had already walked past the building and missed it? He looked around wildly, causing JJ to stumble again as he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" she yelled.

"I don't know where we are!" Spencer shouted back.

Even though his vision was severely impaired, Spencer didn't miss the look of utter horror on JJ's face. So he pulled her forward and kept on walking. They couldn't possibly go back to the car now. It could be buried under ten feet of snow for all Spencer knew.

After a couple more minutes, Spencer felt a sharp pain in his right arm as he walked into the corner of something solid. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to anyone who might be listening and pulled JJ around to where he knew the door would be.

They had to use their combined strength to pull the big wooden door open, then again between them they had to use their body weight to pull the door closed from the inside against the battering snow. Spencer and JJ were plunged into complete darkness. Spencer fumbled for a lighter in his pocket. When he found it he held it up and lit it. A dull glow filled the room. Spencer liked to keep a lighter with him at all times, it was the fastest way of sterilising a needle if he could get nothing better.

The floor was strewn with hay but nothing else. Whatever this had one been for, it was no longer used. At least it was mildly warm though. Warmer than the car at least. Spencer glanced at JJ, she had a look of mute terror on her face that was impossible to ignore. There was a far away look in her eyes, almost as if she was reliving something.

"JJ?" Spencer said softly. She didn't respond.

"JJ," he said more loudly.

She jerked her head around to look at Spencer with wide eyes, "Did you say something?"

"I said, let's gather up some straw to put in the corner so we can sit on it," Spencer lied.

Nodding, JJ took a step forward and froze. Or at least she would have been frozen if it weren't for the uncontrollable shaking that racked her body. Spencer bit his lip and moved forward to put his arm around her shoulders. He did not miss the way she flinched away from his touch.

"JJ, what's wrong?" Spencer asked, refusing to let go of her despite her subtle foot shuffling away from him.

"I can hear…" she trailed off, looking around as though she expected to see something lurking in the shadows.

Spencer had no idea what she thought she could hear, "JJ," he said firmly, "There is nothing and nobody here but us."

She looked at him uncomprehendingly, "What?"

"There is no one here except us," Spencer said, pausing briefly between every word to make sure she understood. JJ nodded slowly but her shaking did not abate.

The lighter wasn't going to last much longer. Spencer glanced around and his eyes fell on an old fashioned oil lamp. Praying that it would work, he walked over to it and picked it up off the floor. There seemed to still be some oil in it but he didn't think it would last very long. He stood it up though and lit it. He was grateful for the amount of light it gave off, which still wasn't very much, but was better than his lighter.

Wrinkling his nose at the musty smell in the air, Spencer turned back to JJ, who still stood rooted to the spot in the middle of the floor.

"Come on," he said, ignoring the way she startled, "Help me move some of this hay."

She obeyed and together they pushed the yellow straw to the back wall to create some padding. Spencer set down the oil lamp in front of them and then sat down in it. It was awfully prickly and uncomfortable. JJ hesitated but soon sat down next to him and hugged her knees to her chest.

"It's still freezing in here," she remarked.

"I know," Spencer replied, secretly delighted that she seemed to have calmed down enough to speak properly.

"I hope the others don't worry too much," JJ said sadly.

"You know they will," said Spencer with a bitter smile, "I can practically hear Emily having a nervous breakdown as we speak, with Hotch trying to calm her down while Morgan will be scowling at the wall."

JJ tensed at Emily's name and Spencer frowned. To pry or not to pry, he thought.

"Has something happened between you and Emily?" he asked slowly.

JJ looked up sharply, "What makes you say that?"

Shrugging slightly, Spencer replied, "You haven't spoken to each other in days. You barely even look at each other anymore."

Looking down at her knees, JJ let out a small sigh, "It's nothing. Really."

"It doesn't seem like to nothing," said Spencer tentatively. He didn't want to force her to talk to him if she didn't want to.

"It's just me being stupid…" she said. Her eyes became glassy and she let out a deep shuddering sigh.

"I'm sure it isn't, JJ," Spencer said comfortingly, "Please, just talk to me."

"She knows," JJ all but whispered.

Spencer frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" JJ's voice was thick with emotion, "She was there. When…When people ask me if I'm okay, I say I am. But she's always there. And she always knows that I'm lying. I try to act like everything is fine. But I can't, because she knows it's not true. I just want to forget what happened. But I can't because Emily is always there to remind me."

Two tears slid down JJ's face and Spencer suddenly felt ashamed for the way he had been acting. He gently placed an arm around her shoulder and moved closer. He felt her tense up at the contact but after a few moments she relaxed. He waited until she had regained control of herself and the silent tears had subsided before going to speak. But she beat him to it.

"I just don't understand how she's okay already," JJ said in a shaky voice, "I wake up every single night while it's still dark outside because of nightmares. I haven't slept through a whole night since you rescued us. But Emily is fine. Why is she okay when I'm not?"

Spencer briefly debated assuring JJ that Prentiss was in fact just as messed up as she was, but this was obviously something JJ had been holding in for a while. So instead Spencer opted for simply comforting his friend.

"Shhh," he said consolingly, "Don't worry, JJ. We'll get you through this. Everything is going to be okay."

Her shaking increased again as more tears worked their way down her face. He pulled her even closer to him and she rested her head on his shoulder. He stroked her hair softly and did his best to try and keep her warm.

"I'm sorry," JJ said after a while, "I'm being stupid."

"No you aren't. Don't be silly," Spencer reassured her.

"I am. I don't recall you sobbing like a big baby almost a month after you were taken by Tobias," JJ sniffed.

A pang of guilt clutched Spencer's heart. If only she knew. If only she knew that even now, because of that day Spencer was ruining his whole life by taking dilaudid. Maybe she should know, Spencer thought. She had opened up to him, so maybe he should do the same. Yes, he was going to tell her. Now. On the count of three. One…Two…Three… Spencer still didn't speak. He felt as though something was actually clamping his lips shut. He couldn't do it.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked, and Spencer suddenly became aware that she was expecting a reply.

"Of course I'm okay," he said with a weak smile.

"What do you think–"

"JJ, I'm a drug addict."

For a moment neither of them said anything. Spencer held his breath and prayed desperately that she would not condemn him.

"Sorry?" JJ said, as though she didn't fully understand.

Spencer took in a deep breath, "After Tobias injected me with dilaudid…I became addicted. I can't stop JJ. I need help."

He was aware how pathetic and needy he sounded as he said these last sentences. Tears filled his eyes in anticipation of her rejection, but he refused to let them fall. He wouldn't make her feel bad for doing what they both knew she had too.

"That explains a lot," was all she said. Her voice was neither kind nor disapproving. She was merely stating a fact. Then, "Oh Spence, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Spencer asked, knowing that she was going to leave him and that he deserved it.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise sooner. I should have known something was wrong," said JJ, her voice one of utter devastation.

Spencer was stunned. Did that mean she wasn't going to abandon him?

"No, JJ. This is in no way your fault," Spencer said firmly, "This is my own doing."

"No it is my fault. I should never have let us split up in the first place. Then you never would have been taken…"

"Stop. You don't know that," Spencer said, placing a finger on her lips for emphasis. He felt her let out a long breath. In a moment of clarity Spencer suddenly realised why the blonde woman had been so terrified of this place. It must have reminded her of that day.

She rested her face on his shoulder again and Spencer could feel a fresh wave of hot tears soaking into his shirt. He wrapped both of his arms around her and held her close and together they sat out the storm, comforted in the knowledge that neither of them were alone anymore.

* * *

**Author's Note(s):** Well, writing this was an ordeal. I did my best to get their emotions as realistic as possible.

Next chapter I think will be Prentiss' point of view. I haven't quite decided yet though.

Thank you again to everyone who is reading:)


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **A massive thank you to smokeylove, Dr. Cameron, didi2909, Nat365, bumblebee917, tearbos, TV Hottie, Carla-Leigh, MrsDrReid, RavennaNightwind (lol what's wrong with my summaries!) and SLITH. You are all hugely motivating. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 6

Emily was not usually one for pacing. But pace she did.

Garcia had found the team a new hotel, a far more satisfactory one than the last. It was clean and tidy and served breakfast. Emily would have been lying if she said she hadn't been intensely relieved when the highly amused computer techie had phoned them with the details of their new rooms.

"Prentiss," said Hotch, in a way that suggested he had been trying to get her attention for quite some time.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Emily turned around to look at Hotch.

"Could you please stop pacing? You are making me feel dizzy," he said.

"Sorry," Emily muttered, sitting down on the end of Morgan's bed.

The three team members where currently sat in Morgan's hotel room, trying to think of the best plan of action to find Reid and JJ. They had been missing for several hours now and no matter how many times they tried to phone them the call went straight to voicemail. If Emily had her way, they would be out there in the car looking for their two missing friends, but the stupid snowstorm was stopping them from going anywhere at all, let alone traipsing across the countryside with no idea where they were going.

"Emily!" Hotch said sharply.

She snapped her head around, "Hmm?"

"You're pacing again!"

"Oh," Emily felt a faint blush taint her cheeks and she sat down again, "Sorry."

"We can't just sit here, Hotch. We have to do something," said Morgan, who had been scowling at the wall for the past twenty minutes.

"We don't have any choice," Hotch replied in a resigned voice.

"What if that David Canvan did something to them?" said Emily. She knew she sounded paranoid but at this point she didn't really care.

"The man is eighty-seven years old, Emily," said Hotch, pursing his lips in a manner that let Emily know he was displeased with the way this conversation was going.

"Yes but…Stranger things have happened," Emily protested.

"No, they have not."

But Emily was not to be deterred. Somehow she couldn't stop the thousands of ideas from floating through her head about what could have happened to them. Each of the pictures was worse than the last. The only thing that any of them had in common was that they involved JJ and Reid in a good deal of trouble with nobody around to help them. Emily wasn't sure JJ could cope from another mishap so soon after their abduction.

Quickly, she pushed all thoughts of their kidnapping aside. She seemed to have developed some sort of adverse affect of nausea whenever thought about what happened. With a stab of worry she noted that it seemed to be getting rather out of hand too, she had woken up every night for the past week with nightmares and had to run to the toilet to throw up each time. It was beginning to become a serious problem, but Emily had no idea what she was supposed to do about it. The aftermath of being abducted had unfortunately not been covered in FBI basic training.

Emily could feel herself beginning to stand up again but forced herself to remain sitting. It was not like her to fidget but she just couldn't keep still. Even though she could tell she was really starting to annoy Morgan and Hotch, it was hard to stop.

"They probably just realised the snow was too deep to keep driving so they find somewhere to stop and stay the night," said Morgan reasonably, "And there's no signal in this God forsaken place so they couldn't call us."

"Maybe…" Emily replied, not really paying attention.

"Emily, go to bed," Hotch said firmly.

"What?"

"I said, go to bed. You're exhausted and fretting yourself ill isn't going to help," said Hotch, "If they aren't back by morning we will go and look for them."

"But–"

"No buts, Prentiss!"

Emily bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from answering back. Hotch was her boss after all and there was no point in arguing the toss with him. She wouldn't win. Instead she left the room without another word, knowing she wouldn't sleep but knowing she should.

---------------------------------

From her sitting position in bed, Emily watched the sunrise. It had stopped snowing just over an hour ago and the sky had cleared of the dark, menacing clouds miraculously quickly. If Emily hadn't been drowning in her worry she would have stopped to think how beautiful it was. She had always liked to watch the sunrise ever since she was small.

The snow was still too deep to go out in the cars or Emily would have been banging on Hotch and Morgan's doors as soon as the first sign of light had appeared. As it was she just stared out the window in what can only be described as a sulk.

On the plus side, if the snow had stopped them from doing anything then it was likely that it had also stopped the unsub from killing again. Emily felt a surge of anger as she remembered the look on Sheriff Regal's face when they had told him that JJ and Reid hadn't come back yet. It was one of smug amusement. And Emily was sure she heard him mutter something about the FBI not being infallible after all very sarcastically to his deputy. If he had been stood any closer to her, Emily was not sure she would have been able to resist the urge to punch him in the face.

With a resigned sigh, Emily resolved to have a shower. At least it might make her feel more awake for their search.

---------------------------------

As it turned out, there was no need for the search party Hotch was setting up. He got a call from Reid just after Emily had got out the shower. He told them that he and JJ were okay and that they were making their way to the hotel. But even though Emily now knew they were all right, she still couldn't quell the feelings of anxiety that she knew wouldn't go away until she'd seen them with her own eyes.

They were in Morgan's room again, as it was the biggest, setting up a nice table of food for when they arrived. They were bound to be hungry. Hotch had just called Regal to tell him they would be a tad late. By the darkening expression on his face, Emily guessed the conversation was not going well. But Hotch's professionalism prevented him from snapping at the man on the other end of the phone and he politely explained the reason and then cut him off without another word.

"What is his problem," Morgan said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Hotch opened his mouth to reply but a tentative knock on the door stopped him.

"Door's open," said Morgan loudly.

In stepped JJ and Reid, who looked exhausted and cold, but otherwise perfectly fine. Emily felt her heart fill with intense relief, so much so that for a moment she couldn't breathe. She resisted the urge to leap to her feet and examine them both to make sure there were in fact no hidden injuries. It was with great difficulty that she stayed seated and kept her face neutral.

"Um…hi," said Reid after a minute of silence.

---------------------------------

The team had officially eliminated everyone who lived in the town from their possible suspect list. They had moved on to Staten Island, and due to its much larger size and population, it was a bit of a struggle to come up with a list of names. Garcia was on it though, and if anyone could find their unsub, she could.

The tiny Seriff's office that they had used yesterday had been abandoned and the team had moved to the Staten Island Police Department to discuss their predicament with them. Regal had followed them of course, unwilling to leave the case into the hands who he apparently perceived to be amateurs.

JJ had just done a press conference, warning possible victims of the danger and providing them with a number for a tip hotline. This was what everyone was doing now, sitting at phones, waiting for something to happen. Everyone except Emily, Reid and Hotch that was, who were discussing a geographical profile, even though they knew it was an impossibility until the unsub killed again.

As soon as JJ had gone off air the police station had been flooded with calls, predominantly from paranoid middle aged women. At the end of the room, Regal seemed to be having a rather heated conversation with someone, earning himself some very unkind looks from the agents and officers around him. Emily was taking great enjoyment from how red in the face the sheriff was becoming in his anger. After another minute, the short sheriff slammed the phone down and stalked over to the table where Emily, Hotch and Reid were sat.

"There is someone on line eight who refuses to talk to me. She'll only talk to you," he said angrily.

"Who?" Hotch said, raising his eyes to meet the sheriffs.

"She didn't tell me her name," Regal replied.

"No, I mean, who does she want to speak to," said Hotch, far more patiently than Emily would have done.

Regal seemed to grit his teeth in annoyance before jerking his thumb towards Emily, "Her."

Emily raised her eyebrows and picked up the phone.

"Put it on speaker," said Hotch, ignoring Regal who was silently fuming next to them.

Nodding, Emily did as she was told.

"Hello, this is Agent Prentiss" said Emily.

"Oh Emily, thank goodness it's you," Emily felt a small smile spread across her face as she recognised the voice, "Who on earth was that awful man you have picking up the phone? A few lessons in polite phone etiquette would not go amiss."

Emily risked a glance and the man in question; his face was becoming alarmingly red.

"Hello, Charlie," she then said, looking again from Regal, "What's up?"

On the other end of the phone Emily heard the other woman clear her throat, "I think I may have just met your unsub."

"What makes you think that?" asked Emily.

"Well, he barged into my office with blood on his hands claiming that he couldn't stop himself and that I needed to help him."

Looking up sharply, Emily saw the way Hotch contracted his eyebrows and looked thoughtfully at the phone.

"I take it he isn't still there?" said Emily quickly.

"No, he ran when he saw my assistant pick up the phone," Charlie replied, the faintest trace of annoyance detectable in her voice.

"That means there is another victim," said Hotch, looking at Reid who was nodding his head.

"We'll be right over," said Emily, putting down the phone.

---------------------------------

**Author's Note(s):** Hmph, I would have posted this chapter yesterday, but apparently, and I quote, my 'computer has recently performed spam like activity' and it wouldn't let me log in. I was most annoyed. I have done nothing of the kind!

Anyway, next chapter from Hotch's point of view…maybe.

Thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **Carla-Leigh, rogueandkurt, didi2909, smokeylove, RavennaNightwind, SLITH, tearbos, need-courage-to-write, Dr. Cameron and TV Hottie, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you also to everyone else who is reading this still :)

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 7

Hotch had decided it best that the entire team go on this jaunt into the centre of Staten Island. By the sounds of it, Emily's friend really had met the unsub, which would therefore mean that there was probably new victims around that they would need look for. He thought about this with a heavy heart, they were at a dead end and needed new victims to aid the profile, but it didn't stop the guilt Hotch felt when they actually got them.

They had taken two cars and Hotch was currently sat in his with Emily as she directed them to the address.

"Who is this friend of yours?" said Hotch after a while.

"Charlotte…Charlie…Winters. She was my roommate at Yale. She's a psychiatrist," Emily replied. There was a certain warmth in her voice as she spoke, something that Hotch had noticed had been rather absent of late. Even if this turned out not to be information on their unsub, it would probably be good for Emily to see a friend anyway.

"It's just around this corner," Emily directed, pointing right.

Following her directions, Hotch finally pulled up outside a block of houses that seemed to have been converted into offices. The rest of the team drove in behind them and they all got out the car.

Emily led them into one of the buildings through the open door and then up a carpeted flight of stairs. Hotch kept a close watch around him for any signs of blood or anything they could use to identify their unsub. He spotted nothing though.

The stairs led to an open room that was obviously used as a waiting room of sorts. There were then several doors around it that presumably led into peoples offices.

In the middle of the room lay a comfortable looking sofa, where there currently sat a young looking blonde woman who was shaking profusely and having what appeared to be a hot cup of tea pressed into her hands by a dark haired woman, who Hotch assumed was Charlie.

"Calm down, Rosemary," said Charlie soothingly, "He has been gone for more than an hour now. I doubt he is coming back."

Rosemary sniffed rather disgustingly and nodded. She then looked up and for the first time noticed the team of profilers that where now stood just inside the door. Her eyes widened at the sight, causing Charlie to look over her shoulder. Her eyes immediately sought out Emily and she smiled.

"That was fast," she remarked.

"Would you expect any less?" Emily replied with a crooked smile.

"I guess not," said Charlie, standing up to face them.

Then much to Hotch's surprise, Emily strode forward and pulled Charlie into a tight hug. Even the woman she was hugging look rather startled by this public display of emotion that they all knew Emily was not usually one to engage in. They broke away.

"It's good to see you," said Emily, sounding oddly emotional.

"You too," replied Chairlie, surprise evident in her voice.

Beginning to feel rather uncomfortable, Hotch cleared his throat loudly. Emily spun back around, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly in obvious embarrassment.

"Charlie, this Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau and Spencer Reid. Everyone this is Charlie Winters," said Emily, nodding towards each person as she said their name.

"And this is Rosemary Hobb," Charlie added, gesturing to the weeping woman on the couch behind her.

"I believe you have some information for us?" said Hotch, getting down to business. The sooner they could get this case solved, the better.

"Ah yes, why don't you come in my office," said Charlie, standing up and moving to the door with 'Dr Charlotte Winters' written on the front.

Hotch nodded and turned to Morgan, "You, Reid and JJ stay here and interview Miss Hobb."

Rosemary heard this and looked up in horror. The deer caught in headlights look on her face told Hotch that the woman would much rather be a million miles away than answering questions. But nodded slowly though and Morgan sat on the chair opposite her while Hotch and Emily followed Charlie into her office. Before Hotch closed the door behind him, he noticed a little glance that Reid and JJ shared. They had been doing it all day. Something had obviously happened while they were out in the barn, but as of yet Hotch couldn't decide if it was a good or a bad thing.

After closing the door, Hotch had a quick scan of the office. It was a comfortable looking place. The walls were lined with leather bound books except in one corner where an expensive looking chess set sat. In the middle of the room were comfortable looking chairs, which were now occupied by Emily and her friend. Hotch took a seat next to Emily and looked expectantly at Charlie.

"Could you please explain in detail exactly what happened?" said Hotch.

It took a moment for the woman to answer, she seemed to be gathering her thoughts together.

"Well as I have said, it happened just over an hour ago. A man in his mid-thirties came barging into my office with blood all over his hands, face and clothes. At first he just paced around the room and would not answer any of my questions, he almost gave poor Rosemary a heart attack. Then all of a sudden he threw himself on his knees in front of me, grabbed hold of my jacket and started raving about how he could not stop himself, that they deserved it and that I had to help him," Charlie said slowly.

"Rosemary, who had been cowering behind her desk, tried to call the police while he was doing this but he saw her and ran away before I could stop him. He had a backpack with him," she then added as an afterthought.

"Could you give us a physical description of the man?" asked Emily, looking at her friend curiously.

"He was about 5'11, short brown hair, brown eyes and he isn't from New York. I could not place his accent though," replied the woman thoughtfully.

Making a mental note of all these details, Hotch decided to call Garcia as soon as he was sure there was no other information.

"Is there anything else you can remember?" he asked imploringly.

She looked down at her hands that where folded carefully on her knee in front of her and then frowned before looking back up again, "No. But if you take that jacket over the arm of that chair it has the blood from his hands on it. It is black so you can't tell, but it is definitely there."

A search for the origin of this blood would need to be organised, Hotch thought. Unfortunately the only number he had on his phone was Sheriff Regal's though and he was loath to speak to that man. He would do what was necessary though if it mean catching the unsub. He would need to take that jacket to forensics as well.

"Thank you, Dr Winters," said Hotch, standing up to see how Morgan, JJ and Reid were doing, "You have been a great help."

Back in the main room, Rosemary was now sobbing into a handkerchief and occasionally spouting seemingly random and incomprehensible words. Poor Reid looked at a loss and clearly had no idea what to do while JJ sat next to the woman and tried to calm her down. Morgan was looking around the room, trying to find some blood stains no doubt.

"Rosemary!" Charlie snapped from behind Hotch, almost making him jump in surprise, "Stop that crying at once."

The younger woman looked up in shock and stopped sobbing immediately. She hiccupped and looked up at Charlie with tear filled eyes. Then Charlie carried on in a much kinder voice, "I called your boyfriend and he will be here any moment to take you home. All right?"

"Yes, Dr Winters," said Rosemary, taking a deep and calming breath. She then turned to JJ, "Did you have any more questions?"

"No, that's all for now."

Then almost simultaneously, everyone turned to look at Hotch. It was something that happened at least once during almost every case. The team wouldn't be quite sure what to do next and would look to him for guidance. Not that Hotch didn't like the responsibility, but sometimes it could be an awful lot of pressure. As always though, he kept his face and voice neutral as he began to issue orders.

"Reid, go down to the car and fetch a large plastic bag. JJ, call Garcia and ask her to run a search on everyone who lives in this area but was not born here, I'll give you more details when she has a list. Morgan, call Regal and tell him to pass on the message that we need man power to search for these bodies."

Noticing the look of distaste on Morgan's face Hotch almost smirked. What would be the point in being leader if he were not allowed to delegate less enjoyable tasks?

After a remarkably short amount of time, Reid was back with the bag and had already put the jacket in to be taken to the labs for testing.

"That is an Armani," he heard Charlie say mournfully.

"Well you can have it back when we're done," said Emily, with the faintest trace of exasperation in her voice.

"With some poor dead person's blood on it? I don't think so, Emily. You can throw it in the bin when you are finished with it," replied Charlie disdainfully.

"It must be nice to have that much money," remarked Emily.

"Ha! What was that Miss Emily 'I live opposite the Washington Monument and Capital Building' Prentiss? Something about having too much money?"

Hotch resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the two women bickering like children at the other end of the room. Oh well, he thought, it was preferable to the depressed silence that Emily seemed to spend most of her time in. He wasn't quite sure who he worried more about when he thought about it, JJ or Prentiss. They had both been through a remarkable trauma, and the fact that there seemed to be no obvious side effects other than them both seeming rather more tired than usual and a tad more nervous was a bit of a worry. If they weren't dealing with their problems later on down the line it could become a serious issue. But maybe seeing a friend would help Emily revert back to her usual self. It was a shame he was going to have to drag her back down to reality as they searched for their serial killer.

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**Author's Note(s):** It is at this point that I wish I had planned further ahead than this chapter. As it is I no longer have any plot line and will have to make it up as I go along. Excellent. Any suggestions or a particular scene you would like to read would be greatly appreciated.

I realise that once again not much happened in this chapter but I needed them to get some clues from somewhere! Also, it's late here so if there are any mistakes, I blame my tiredness! If you see any I would be grateful if you could let me know so I can fix them. Thanks :)

On a slightly unrelated note, due to my incessant need to update my stories as soon as possible, I haven't actually read anything in what feels like several years. I'm rather fussy about what fanfics I read so is there anything good anyone can recommend to me?

Next chapter from…I don't know's…point of view :)

Thank you again for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **A huge thank you to RavennaNightwing (without whom this chapter would not have been written), IheartTV (thanks for the recommendations. I shall read them as soon as I get the chance), Carla-Leigh, smokeylove, Dr. Cameron and bumblebee917 (you have good ideas :). I think you should all win a prize for the best reviewers ever to be honest.

Thank you also to everyone who is still reading!

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 8

Garcia pushed against her desk, sending her chair wheeling backwards and spinning just at the right moment so she was now facing a different computer screen. She had got this fluid motion down to a fine art in the last few years. By now she could probably do her job with her eyes closed should the situation ever call for it. That was unlikely though.

Since JJ and Reid had gone missing, yet again, Garcia had felt even more determined than she already was to help her team find their unsub so they could come straight back home. So she had been running some slightly more obscure searches to find links between the victims that could possibly be of help. It was a long shot but it was better than being sat around twiddling her thumbs for hours on end.

Such fear, she had felt when Morgan had called her to tell her that Reid and JJ had gone missing. It was just too much for her to handle. How it was possible for JJ to get herself into such serious trouble twice in the space of less than a month was astounding. Garcia even entertained the notion that she did it for fun because she knew how much of a kerfuffle it caused. She had quickly discarded this idea though, she knew that her girl would never do anything to purposely hurt her or the rest of the team. Still, if she kept it up Garcia feared that she would be on the way to a nervous breakdown. And then if it wasn't JJ getting herself into trouble, it was Emily, and then if it wasn't Emily it was Reid. Between them they would be the death of her.

Garcia pushed her red, jewelled glasses up her nose and focussed her attention on the game of Tetris she was playing. She was on the last level now which was when it started to get mildly difficult. Of course, with her incomparable computer skills, it was still fairly easy for her to complete it with minimal hassle and oh yes…a new high score. She grinned at the flashing 'Congratulations' message that flashed up in varying shades of neon against the black background of the screen. Soon it would be time for her to find herself a new game to learn, something that was a bit more of a challenge for her. She wouldn't want to become complacent in her brilliance after all.

An almost inaudible beep from one of the computers behind her told Garcia that one of her searches had finished. Once again with uncanny grace, she rolled herself across the room to look at the findings. Her face fell at the 'No results found' message that was displayed. All happiness over her Tetris tournament victory were forgotten as she realised that she would not be able to call her dear Morgan with some useful information and wacky claims of her Goddess like status and mystical powers.

A small smile lit her face as she though of Morgan. He was her knight in shining armour. There was something about the playful tone of his voice and the kind smile he seemed to reserve just for her that could instantly brighten Garcia's day, no matter what mood she had been before. She hadn't really realised how much he meant to her until the day Emily Prentiss joined the team and her, Gideon and Reid had gone to interview a terrorist. Morgan and Hotch had been searching for sleeper cells when there had been an explosion. A trap. Garcia had been unable to stop the flow of tears when she believed Morgan and Hotch to be dead. She just couldn't imagine her life without Morgan. He was the only man to ever have truly made her feel special. Every woman should be told they are beautiful once in a while, and there was no one in the world that Garcia would rather hear it from than the ever wonderful and ever handsome Derek Morgan.

This led Garcia on to think about the good Dr Spencer Reid. There was nothing she enjoyed more than poking fun out of the socially inept young man. Oh, not in a nasty way of course, in a playful manner that poor Reid didn't really understand right away. He was the most adorable person Garcia had ever met in her life, and she usually had the most overwhelming urge to wrap him up in cotton wool and protect him from the troubles in the world.

But of course, Reid was no stranger to the evils that swept across the world, having been a victim of them himself. Garcia would never get over the utter horror she had felt when she searched through Tobias' computer and had seen the video feed of Spencer tied up and beaten. Though she would never tell anyone, she had had nightmares about it for weeks afterwards. They all had Reid to take care of instead of worrying their pretty little heads over their computer tech back who was safely back in Quantico.

Garcia moved her thoughts over to JJ, her best friend and confidante. It hurt Garcia to see how much pain the blonde seemed to be in lately. Not just the physical pain though, but the emotional scars that her kidnapping seemed to have left. She did a good job of trying to hide it of course, but then again that was part of her job. Garcia still wished she would talk to her though. She was convinced that if JJ just sat down with someone and talked about what had happened, she would feel a million times better. And just maybe JJ's smile would start to reach her eyes again.

Then there was Emily, the newbie to the team. Although Garcia thought it had been long enough now for her not to be considered the newbie. She was another one who seemed to be carrying around an awful lot of heartache. Garcia wasn't as close to Emily as she was to JJ though, so even if she wanted to approach the brunette about her behaviour she wouldn't have a clue how to go about it. Emily seemed rather closed off in the best of circumstances, let alone in these past few weeks. It was tragic really.

Finally there was their stoic and unflappable leader, Aaron Hotchner. Just as handsome as Morgan, but in a different kind of way. He seemed to carry around the weight of the entire team on his shoulders and Garcia had seen an awful lot of guilt flick across his face when he thought nobody was looking. Why he felt guilty for things that were beyond his control was anybody's guess.

Garcia loved her team. Making them smile was her personal mission in life. Even if it was only a half hearted puppy dog smile from Reid then she considered it to not have been a wasted day. If only Hotch would smile a bit more. It actually knocked years off his face. Garcia smiled mournfully as her phone rang.

"Speak and be recognised by your Empress, mortal," she said as cheerfully as possible.

"Hey, Garcia," said JJ's voice on the other line.

"Hey, Jayje. What can I do you for?"

Garcia flitted back and forth between her beloved computers and found everything JJ was asking for in literally record time. Soon Hotch had taken over and was giving her more specific search instructions. In the end she had ninety-five files and they were unable to narrow it down anymore.

"I'll fax them over to you a.s.a.p, honey," said Garcia as her hands flew across the keys of her keyboard.

She could practically hear his lips thinning in displeasure at the term of endearment. Garcia didn't mind though. Sooner or later he would come to like it. At least he accepted it now and didn't tell her not to call him it. There was definite progress being made, and Garcia knew that under that tough exterior the man was incredibly soft hearted. She had seen they way he was with his son and Haley before all the trouble started.

"Thanks, Garcia," said Hotch.

"No problem," she replied, before cutting him off.

Yes, when the team got back from this case they would all need a good stern talking to. Garcia was determined to help make everything right with them again.

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**Author's Note(s):** I know I know, didn't do much by way of plot, but it has been pointed out to me that I have rather neglected Garcia so I thought she deserved a chapter.

It's a bit shorter than I would have liked, but there is only so long you can talk about people's thoughts before it starts to become a bit repetitive and boring.

As people seemed to like Charlie, I am thinking of bringing her back for a bit, perhaps counselling JJ and Emily as bumblebee917 suggested. So if you are vehemently opposed to bringing her back then speak up now :p

I shall update as soon as I can.

Thank you all for reading :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **I know…I haven't updated in like years. Sorry about that. Real life finally caught up with me sadly and my workload has increased. This is no excuse however so yep, I apologise. As always a big thanks to everyone who is reading and those of you who reviewed, i.e. smokeylove, didi2909, RavennaNightwind and LadyPuzzler.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 9

"Should we set up a parameter?" asked the Agent in charge of the local police force.

Morgan opened his mouth to answer but Hotch beat him to it. "No. It's been over an hour and with all these back streets he could be anywhere by now. It's very possible he also lives in the area so he could very well be hiding in his home. We'd be wasting man power."

Understanding, the agent, whose name was Bryson, nodded.

"Our time would be best spent searching for the new victims," Morgan added.

Instantly, the agent was off giving instructions to his task force and advising them where to look. Morgan reflected how much easier the beginning of this investigation would have been if they had been working with someone equally cooperative, rather than that pompous sheriff, who was currently peering suspiciously around at them all as though he was expecting some sort of foul play from them. It was infuriating.

"Morgan," Hotch's voice suddenly said, rousing him from his thoughts, "I want you to go with Reid and JJ to look through the files Garcia sent to us. See if you can narrow down the suspect list, compare criminal records and such. You know the drill."

"Sure thing, Hotch," Morgan said immediately. This would be a good opportunity to try and get some information about Reid and JJ about what happened out in that snow storm. Something was definitely going on between them.

He spotted them still stood near the door leading into Prentiss' friend's office. Reid seemed to be pointing down the street and saying something about statistical probabilities, he was obviously in text book quoting mode because Morgan barely understood a single word that was coming from his mouth.

"Hey, Reid. Come on. We don't have time for your idle gossiping," said Morgan, effectively cutting off whatever the boy genius was about to say next and causing a ghost of a smile to appear on JJ's face.

Looking wounded, Reid turned his head and said, "I was talking about the case."

Suppressing a sigh, Morgan gestured to them both to follow him. "I know, Reid. I was joking."

"Oh…" mumbled Reid, his cheeks flushing pink, "I knew that."

JJ really did smile at this, she patted his shoulder lightly, "Don't worry about it, Spence."

Now that was interesting, thought Morgan. He was definitely going to have to do some prying into what went on with those two last night. If only his little resident gossip was around for this. Garcia would be having the time of her life watching what she would deem to be cute little exchanges between their two youngest team members. Morgan could still remember how gleeful the computer tech had been when Reid and JJ had gone to watch the Red Skins together. If it was hard to get the woman to be quiet on a normal occasion, it was practically impossible when she was trying to decide whether or not to play matchmaker. He shook his head and bit back a grin.

"Hotch wants us to start going through the files that Garcia sent," Morgan told them while indicating for them to get into the car.

They both nodded, and then just to add further interest they sat in the back together, leaving Morgan alone at the front of the car. When he told Garcia about this she was going to love it.

Most of the car journey passed in silence with the occasional seemingly random statistic or case study from Reid that he thought might help them narrow down the list of suspects. Morgan wasn't sure it was going to be that easy, if the killer was really going through a psychotic break, which now seemed distinctly possible then he might not have any criminal record at all. But it was hard to pinpoint in these types of cases. Killers having a psychotic breakdown were the most unpredictable and needed to be stopped soon or else the body count would just keep increasing at an alarming rate.

The furtive glances between Reid and JJ in the back seat were not missed by Morgan. He could see them quite clearly in the car mirror. There was obviously something they needed to talk about, and Morgan hoped they would do so it sooner rather than later. Whatever their issue was should not get in the way of the case and they shouldn't allow themselves to be distracted. But then again, JJ had been through something terrible recently and a momentary lapse was hardly her fault.

As they pulled up outside the police station, Morgan ran his hand over his head and took in a deep breath. He was repeating the details of the case over and over again in his mind, trying to think of something they might have missed. It was so very frustrating.

Then his phone rang.

"Morgan," he said, putting the phone to his ear.

"We found the victims," came Hotch's voice, "Same MO. Man stabbed, woman tortured. The scene is a lot more bloody than the last two."

"He's definitely devolving then," said Morgan, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Yes. Let's hope this means he'll make another mistake."

"_Another_ mistake?"

"Running into a psychiatrists office covered in blood in the middle of the day is a sizeable mistake."

Morgan snorted, "I suppose you're right."

"Are you there yet?"

"Yes," said Morgan, glancing at Reid who was just about to walk into the police building.

"Good. Keep me posted."

With that, Hotch hung up.

Morgan slipped his phone back into his pocket and followed Reid and JJ. One of the few people that were not off searching for dead bodies showed them to a small, comfortable conference room, where what looked like a small mountain of paper work sat.

"It looks like my desk back in Quantico," said JJ with a raised eyebrow.

Smirking, Morgan gestured towards the pile. "You should feel right at home then."

She signed dramatically and sat down at the table, pulling a large chunk of the files towards herself. Reid followed her suit and took the chair opposite here. Not quite willing to look through that heap just yet, Morgan cast his mind around for something to briefly distract himself with.

"Do you want coffee?" he said.

Reid looked up from his file and nodded eagerly.

"No thanks," said JJ.

Morgan left the room to get them drinks. He had not been at all surprised when Reid had said yes. The guy seemed to live, talk and breath coffee. That amount of caffeine was good for nobody. Morgan wasn't about to go and tell someone else how to live their life though. If Reid wanted coffee, Morgan wouldn't stand in the way.

Carrying the coffee carefully, Morgan paused outside the door before entering. Reid and JJ were talking in hushed voices. He had never seen the point in talking in such low tones, nothing attracted more attention than someone trying not to attract attention.

"…But JJ what should I-"

"Not now, Spence. We have work to do."

"But-"

"No buts. This isn't the time or the place. We'll talk about it tonight."

Morgan cleared his throat loudly and entered the room holding his cups of coffee like a trophy.

"Here you go, Reid," he said, placing it down in front of the boy. Reid offered Morgan a weak smile of thanks and then looked guiltily down at his hands. Morgan merely shook his head and sat down to work. After only ten minutes of looking through paperwork, he prayed that Hotch and Prentiss were having more luck.

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**Author's Notes:** On a random note, a few days ago my other story, Flawless, reached 10,000 hits. So YAY, you kids are awesome.

I realise that once again not much happened in this chapter and that it's annoyingly short. I'm working on it though! I think my muse has kind of left me and my fascination in Criminal Minds is waning. Probably all those essays I've been doing driving me to distraction. Going to have a Criminal Minds weekend though and hopefully I will be inspired enough to finish this story with minimal gaps between posts!

Thank you for continuing to read :) You are awesome.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **As always, a big thank you to my readers and reviewers – tearbos, didi2909, smokeylove, Carla-Leigh and RavennaNightwind :) Thank you for being patient with me and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 10

Hotch collapsed onto his bed as soon as he closed the door to his hotel room. It had been a long and tiring day.

After spending hours examining yet more mutilated corpses, Hotch and Emily had gone back to base to help Morgan, JJ and Reid. Having finished that, they split the list into most likely suspects, and then presented them to Emily's friend, who claimed that she recognised no one. They then showed her all the people they thought least likely to have committed these crimes which again had proved useless. Eventually, they had left Charlie with a sketch artist so they could attempt to draw their suspect and JJ had conducted a press conference. The rest of the day had been spent searching the area for anything that might be useful and talking to the people the lived nearby, who conveniently had seen nothing. Not a single one of them.

His eyes were closing of their own accord now. He wanted to get up and have a shower but the bed was just so comfortable…

_Knock knock._

Hotch bit back a groan. Maybe whoever it was would just go away…

_Knock knock._

Or maybe not. With great difficulty, he heaved himself onto his feet and opened the door, doing his best to keep the look of annoyance of his face. It was Morgan.

"Hey, Hotch. Can I come in?"

"Of course," replied Hotch politely.

Morgan shuffled into the room and perched himself on the end of Hotch's bed. Hotch picked up the chair in the corner of the room and turned it to face the other man. Morgan was looking at him expectantly.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked Hotch, curiosity winning over.

Pausing for a few moments, Morgan seemed to be collecting his thoughts before he answered.

"I think one of us needs to talk to Emily," he said finally.

"By 'one of us', I assume you mean me?" said Hotch raising an eyebrow.

Morgan grinned sheepishly, "Yea, I would talk to her myself but I don't think she'd listen to me."

"What makes you think she would listen to me?" Hotch folded his arms and peered at Morgan searchingly.

"She responds to authority," Morgan observed.

Hotch couldn't deny that Morgan was right. Even after all this time she still called him sir which showed that she was still keenly aware that he was her superior.

"Why now?" said Hotch suspiciously, "I was going to wait until this case is over."

"We have nothing to lose by talking to her now. She's trying but her mind just isn't on the case. Before I was talking to her and she just stopped speaking mid-sentence and started staring off into the distance," Morgan shook his head wearily, "We should talk to her now. This isn't healthy."

"Why Emily? JJ has been struggling too, and there's obviously something going on with Reid," replied Hotch in a low voice, he didn't want to risk Reid, who was in the next room, hearing them through the wall or something.

Of course, Hotch knew the answer to this. Something had happened between them the night before, and whatever their problems were, Hotch had full confidence that they would work through them together. He just wanted to make sure that Morgan was of the same opinion.

"JJ and Reid have each other," Morgan responded simply.

Satisfied, Hotch nodded. "All right then. I will go and talk to her now."

Looking intensely relived, Morgan smiled half-heartedly at him and bade Hotch good night before leaving the room.

Deciding not to delay the inevitable, Hotch took a quick drink of coffee, wishing it was something stronger, and then left his room and walked down the corridor to the room he knew Emily was staying in.

With only slight trepidation, Hotch knocked loudly on the door. He heard a creaking of springs and Emily making her way across the room. There was a distinctly puzzled expression on her face when she opened the door and came face to face with Hotch.

"Has Bryson called? Do we have a lead?" she asked, casting her eyes around Hotch as though she was expecting to see someone else behind him.

"No, not yet. It's only a matter of time though," Hotch assured her, "I came here to talk."

She hesitated, before opening her door wide enough for him to enter the room. Hotch lip twitched into an almost smile as he walked in and sat down in the same chair he had been sat in whilst in his own room and talking to Morgan. Apparently the people that designed this hotel weren't very creative, all the rooms where set out exactly the same.

He took a moment to scan the room. Emily had placed her gun on her bedside table, no doubt so it was in reaching distance at all times. Her television was switched on to what appeared to be a comedy programme judging from the overdramatic laughter he could hear at the end of every line. He recognised the programme as Friends, one Haley used to watch sometimes. There was currently a man running down the street shouting after a woman who was jogging.

"That woman looks like you," Hotch observed.

Glancing at the TV screen, Emily raised an eyebrow, "I would never have that hair cut."

Almost smirking, Hotch listened to the woman on the TV speak; she seemed to be called Kathy. "She talks like you too."

Emily smiled slightly, "I suppose we do have the same accent. I've never really noticed before."

As she gazed at the television, Hotch took a moment to study her. Her hair was damp, she must have just got out the shower. It was then that Hotch realised how much makeup Emily had been wearing lately, without it he could still see the yellow bruises that covered more than half of her face, almost healed but not quite. He could also see the faint white scar across her forehead from their first case after Gideon had left, when she had been hit over the head with a plank of wood. He felt a pang of distress as he remembered that it had also been the day that Haley had left him.

She became aware of him staring at her and folded her arms, it was a typical defensive stance.

"I assume you didn't come here just to talk about my likeness to a fictional character?" she said warily.

"Sit down, please," said Hotch, in a voice that suggested that what he had said wasn't a request.

Pursing her lips, Emily did as she was told and sat down on her bed to face him. Morgan was right, she did tend to respond to authority.

"We need to talk, Emily," Hotch said.

Other than her shoulders drooping almost imperceptivity, Emily's demeanour remained completely impassive. She was far too good at hiding her emotions. Even Hotch struggled to read her and that was not something that happened often.

"About what?"

Not willing to play this game with her, Hotch simply narrowed his eyes at her until she looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

"All right," she said, shifting nervously, "What about it?"

"I would like you to talk to someone about what happened. You clearly aren't coping as well as you pretend to and it's beginning to affect your work," Hotch told her, deciding to get straight to the point.

Emily's lips thinned, a clear sign that he'd hit a sore spot. "I can deal with this by myself. I just need a little time to adjust and then I'll be fine."

"You've had a little time already," Hotch pointed out.

"A little _more_ time then," replied Emily, obviously trying hard to keep her irritation in check.

"You know, Emily, we're all here if you want somebody to talk to," said Hotch in the kindest voice he could.

"I know, and thank you…but I'd prefer to sort this out by myself," replied Emily, her voice wavering ever so slightly. Hotch could tell that she was far less sure of herself now than she was at the start of the conversation. Maybe if he could push her just a little more…

"Emily, you were abducted," he said sternly.

She flinched ever so slightly, "Yes, thank you. I recall."

"You were beaten senseless."

The flinch was more pronounced this time and Emily's face turned an interesting shade of grey, "Do you think I don't know that?"

"JJ was almost raped in-"

"Stop! All right, Hotch! I know," Emily interrupted desperately, her eyes glassy.

Hotch fell silent, but continued to stare at her unblinkingly. She was looking anywhere but at him. It took him a moment but he made up his mind quickly.

"Emily, if you don't sort yourself out by the end of this case I'm going to suspend you until you seek professional help," said Hotch, quietly but seriously. Her eyes snapped down and bore into his.

"You wouldn't-"

"Yes I would, and will," said Hotch quickly, in a voice that booked no argument. He stood up and tried to ignore the horrified look on her face. "I'll see you in the morning."

Then without looking back, he left the room, desperately hoping he had done the right thing.

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**Author's Note(s)**: Yay Criminal Minds! I watched half of the first series this weekend and whilst I am not suddenly struck with adoration for the programme again, I'm getting there. Random note: I forgot how much Elle really annoyed me. I was so pleased when she got replaced.

Anywho, I digress. Will update as soon as possible and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **A big thanks to RavennaNightwind, sid, tearbos, didi2909, smokeylove, Dr. Cameron (Hehe you are perhaps right about the game thing…I never thought of that. Charlie will be back in the next chapter. Not Reid/JJ romance I'm afraid, just friendship.) and SLITH. You guys made my day :) Also, thank you to all who are still reading!

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 11

There was a very tentative knock on JJ's door. There was only one person who would knock like that.

"Come in, Spence," she said loudly, putting the case file down on the bed in front of her.

Cautiously, the door was pushed open and there stood Reid, a rather nervous expression on his face. He quietly closed the door behind him and came and sat down on the bed opposite JJ with his legs crossed.

"Hey, JJ," he said quietly.

JJ offered him a weak smile. Since he had told her about his drug problem, she hadn't been quite sure what to think. Of course, she wanted to try and help him as best as she could. She just wasn't sure if she'd be able to or whether she should tell the rest of the team. He seemed pretty adamant about keeping it between the two of them, so for now she would do as he wished.

"How are you feeling?" she said.

Seeming to deliberate his answer first he replied, "I've felt better. I haven't taken any…you know…yet."

"What do you mean 'yet'?" said JJ, folding her arms in obvious disapproval.

Reid looked alarmed, "You don't expect me to just quit straight away do you?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I expect," JJ told him under no uncertain terms.

"But… The withdrawal symptoms… I can't carry on with this case with them," said a horrified Reid. He looked so upset by the prospect that JJ took pity on him and used a kinder tone to speak to him with.

"Well what are you going to do then, Spence? Because now that I know, I can't let you carry on the way you have been doing," she said, leaning back against her headboard.

"I know," Reid said sadly, allowing his head to drop forward so she couldn't see his face. JJ fought off the overwhelming urge to pull him into a tight hug and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

Instead she merely said, "Spence?"

He looked up again, his eyes glassy with unshed tears, "I was going to keep taking a normal dose until the end of this case."

"And then what?" she didn't want to upset him, but JJ needed answers if she was going to help him.

"Then I'll start lowering my dose," he said definitively.

"What if we get another case?" JJ wanted to know.

Reid faltered, "Then I…I don't know. I could just keep doing what I'm doing…maybe…"

"Or you could take some time off," she pointed out, "Nobody would think any less of you if you took sick leave."

"But they would want to know why," Reid whined.

Sighing, JJ nodded her head in agreement, "We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it then."

Reid made a thoughtful noise and looked down to study his hands. JJ took this time to study the man himself. They had slept very little the night before in that barn and the strain was showing on Reid's face. There were big dark circles around his eyes and his hair hung lank around his face. If just looking at him wasn't incentive to not do drugs then JJ didn't know what was. She shuddered as she remembered exactly what had started his drug problem in the first place. That barn that they had been in last night…it had just been so similar to the one attached to Tobias' house…and where she had been attacked by those dogs.

Fear gripped her heart at the thought of what had happened, and coupled with the memories of what had happened last time she had been in a hotel room JJ suspected she was going to get no sleep at all tonight.

At this point, Reid began to rise to his feet, "I should let you get some rest JJ," he said softly.

"Wait!" she said quickly, and then mentally cursed herself for seeming so desperate, "Why don't you stay here for a bit?"

A momentary look of surprise crossed Reid's face, but he quickly complied with her request and sat back down.

"Sure, JJ. Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

No, there was absolutely nothing JJ wanted to talk about. She just didn't want to be alone again.

"Why don't we just watch TV for a bit?" said JJ, uncomfortably aware of how vulnerable her voice sounded.

Silently, Reid nodded. He then moved across the bed to sit next to her, his long legs stretched out in front of him. JJ was intensely grateful that he didn't ask her any questions, especially after she had just given him the third degree on what was obviously a very painful subject for him.

She picked up the remote control from the bedside table and turned on the TV. JJ leaned back and tried to make herself more comfortable as she flicked through the channels. She very rarely had time to watch TV recently, so JJ didn't really recognise any of the programmes that were on. But she practically felt Reid perk up beside her as they landed on a channel with a programme she did recognise – Star Trek.

"No, Spence. Just no," JJ said, amusement plain in her tone.

Letting out a dramatic sigh, Reid nodded and allowed her to continue looking. The next programme they turned to was CSI: Miami, but JJ dealt with so much pain and death every single day that she couldn't bare the thought of watching a television show about it for kicks. They finally settled on a light comedy that probably wouldn't require much thinking on their parts.

After a while, she felt Reid start to shift uncomfortably.

"You can leave if you want to, Spence," said JJ, trying to sound unconcerned and as though she wasn't terrified by the prospect of being left alone in this room.

Reid glanced at her for only a second before saying, "Not yet, I think I'd like to stay here a little longer if that's okay with you?"

JJ felt a lump rise in her throat. Even after all Reid was going through, he was still trying to protect her feelings by pretending that he wanted to stay with her. She tentatively reached out and clasped his hand in her own.

"I'd like that," she said so quietly that it was almost a whisper.

Moving closer to her, Reid squeezed her hand and smiled kindly. JJ let out a deep breath.

"I wonder how Emily is doing," she mused, trying to deflect attention from herself.

"Well last time I saw her she looked pretty angry," said Reid with a slight shrug.

"What? When was that?" asked JJ, casting her mind back to the rest of the day. As far as she was aware Emily had not been mad last time they had spoken.

"Just before I came in here. I saw her stalk off holding the keys to one of the cars."

------------------------------

**Author's Note(s): **Well, that was a bit shorter than I was going for…but hey ho what can you do?

Next chapter from Prentiss' point of view and then after that a case related breakthrough :)

On a random note, for anyone having Criminal Minds withdrawal symptoms, I recently started watching Bones and it's awesome. So I would recommend it to anyone looking for a programme similarly styled to Criminal Minds to fill the void CM has left :p

Anywho, as always, thank you for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **Phew, thankfully I think we are coming to the end of this story. As always, my eternal gratitude goes to the people that reviewed, (RavennaNightwind, Dr. Cameron, smokeylove, me and tearbos), and to everyone else who is still reading this story! I really liked writing this chapter for some reason and I hope you enjoy it.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 12

Emily was annoyed. No, scratch that. Emily was furious. How was she supposed to sort herself out with people breathing down her neck about it all the live long day? She just needed some space. Well not space per say, just space from her team.

Hotch couldn't suspend her. It just wouldn't be fair…

Taking a sharp bend, Emily sped down the road, fifteen miles an hour above the speed limit. She briefly contemplated that perhaps she might not be in the right frame of mind to be driving right now, but she dismissed this thought easily. As long as she didn't run anybody over it would be fine. She turned another corner down into posh looking housing estate and then put her foot down on the break pedal a tad too enthusiastically, causing her to jolt forward as the car came to a stop.

She took a brief moment to regain control of her breathing before getting out of the car and walking up the driveway of the house she had stopped in front of. Then before she could change her mind, Emily rang the doorbell.

It took Charlie less than a minute to open the door. Despite the late hour, she was still fully dressed with a pen resting behind her ear and a rather frazzled expression on her face.

"Emily," she said in surprise, "What are you-"

Before Charlie could finish her sentence, Emily had walked past her and into the warmth of the house.

"Please, come in," Charlie muttered sarcastically under her breath, shutting the door and turning around.

"Hey," was all Emily could think to say.

"Good evening," replied Charlie, surprise still evident in her voice, "I don't mean to be rude, but it's almost two o clock in the morning. Why are you here?"

"I-" Emily faltered, "I don't really know."

"I see," said Charlie slowly, "Emily…Have you been drinking?"

"What? No! Of course I haven't! Why do you always assume I've been drinking?"

"Because you usually have."

"Yes well…that's neither here nor there."

Emily could tell that her friend was biting back a smile in spite of her stern expression. For some reason she found that fact intensely irritating. Maybe this was a mistake.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you. This was stupid. I'll leave now," Emily said, quickly turning to go.

"No, wait," exclaimed Charlie. She moved forward and caught Emily's shoulder and much to Emily's horror, she flinched away from the contact, she just couldn't stop herself. Charlie quickly let go and looked at Emily properly for the first time with a considering expression on her face. "Go and sit down. I'll make us some hot chocolate."

Briefly, Emily considered ignoring this instruction and looked rapidly at the door with full intention of fleeing anyway. However something in the way her friend was watching her told Emily that Charlie wasn't going to let her leave even if she had to physically restrain her. So she nodded gracefully and walked to the room that Charlie was pointing to.

The room was expensively decorated. Two black leather couches sat at a ninety degree angle in one corner of the room with a black, circular table in between them. Opposite them at the other corner of the relatively small room was a shiny black television. Lining one of the walls that the TV was against were three tall, black bookcases filled with dark red leather bound books and on the other two walls that did not have a window, there hung three black and white paintings of odd shapes. In contrast to the dark furniture, the walls were a creamy white colour that perfectly matched the soft carpet under Emily's feet. She took her shoes off so as not to make the light carpet dirty and moved to sit on one of the comfortable couches. It did not surprise her how fanciful this room looked; having money was something Charlie had always deemed important. Emily had always been rich though so she had never really understood the importance of money to some people.

Soon, Charlie came in carrying two mugs of hot chocolate. She placed them carefully down on the table in between the two couches and then sat on the opposite one from Emily. For a while they sat in a slightly awkward silence, both blowing steam from the top of their drinks. In Yale they had grown very close but over the years due to their contrasting careers the two had drifted apart. Sure, they still exchanged phone calls and emails, but it just wasn't the same as when they were living together.

Emily was the first to break the silence, "Nice place," she commented.

"Thank you," replied Charlie rather fondly, "I bought it from a newly married couple who were going to have children and wanted to move to a bigger house."

Nodding, Emily's eyes swept the room once more as she racked her brain to try and think of something else to say.

"How is the case going?" asked Charlie after taking a sip of her drink.

"Frankly, we've hit a brick wall. Again," said Emily, quickly warming to the topic as it did not revolve around her, "I don't understand why we are having so much trouble catching this guy. We think he's in a psychotic break so someone should have reported him by now. It doesn't make sense that he has gone undetected for all this time."

"It is rather a conundrum," Charlie remarked, and then added, "I'm sorry that my sketch didn't help."

"That's okay," said Emily dejectedly, "They very rarely do unless the unsub has very distinctive features. JJ did the press conference and used it for point of reference anyway, so who knows. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone will call."

"Perhaps," Charlie agreed. "Which hotel are you staying at?"

"The Thistle," said Emily, "It's about a forty minute drive from here."

"I know where it is, and no, it most certainly is not a forty minute drive. How fast were you going exactly?" said Charlie, shaking her head almost imperceptibly in disbelief.

"I don't remember," replied Emily evasively.

"Of course not," said Charlie in a maddeningly patient voice. "So, which one of your team members incensed you so much that you stormed out of your hotel and raced across the city like a bat out of hell to come and bother me?"

Now that it actually came down to it, Emily wasn't sure she actually wanted to talk about this. Her eyes flicked around the room as she tried to think of something else to say. The stark colours around her were beginning to give her a headache.

"No one, what makes you think someone made me angry…?" Emily feebly trailed off at the end of the sentence, realising how terrible a liar she could be at times.

"Right, of course not," said Charlie sarcastically.

Suddenly, Emily snapped, "What is going on with this room? It's so cold and impersonal. You know, the colours black and white individually both indicate that a person is trying to hide from the world and distance themselves from the people around them."

"Yes, well now you're just lashing out aren't you," said Charlie, looking supremely unimpressed.

Emily clenched her fist, her fingernails digging into the palm of her hand.

"It was Hotch," said Emily through gritted teeth.

"Ah yes, Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome," said Charlie with a small smile, "What wrongdoing has he committed?"

"He said he was going to suspend me if I didn't start concentrating on the case properly!" said Emily angrily. She stood up and began to pace.

Charlie's eyes followed her progression up and down the room, "I'm sure that isn't all he said."

"No, he said that if I can't learn to cope with things by myself he's going to suspend me until I 'seek professional help'," Emily could hear the fury in her own voice but did nothing to try and calm herself.

Charlie didn't speak for a moment, something for which Emily was grateful, but then that question she was dreading still came.

"Am I correct in assuming that these 'things' you have to learn to 'cope with' have something to do with those faded bruises on your face and arms?" Charlie's voice was completely neutral, almost as thought she were enquiring about the weather.

Emily felt bile rise in her throat and she quickly swallowed and shook her head desperately, not daring to open her mouth just in case. All those feelings she had meticulously suppressed were beginning to rise to the surface. She tried to take deep steadying breaths to calm herself down. Just before Charlie could speak again, the phone rang. Charlie looked mightily annoyed while Emily thanked God for small mercies.

"You can go and have a look around if you like," said Charlie in an irritated voice.

Saying nothing, Emily followed her friend out of the room, and while Charlie picked up the phone in the hall, Emily moved to go up the stairs, her goal to get as far away from Charlie as possible without actually leaving the house.

From the top of the stairs, she could hear Charlie all but yelling down the phone, "I don't care how many nightmares you have, Rosemary! Quarter to three in the morning is not an acceptable time to call somebody!"

Emily felt her chest constrict and her attempts to keep her emotions in check was making it harder and harder to breath. She quickly moved to the furthest room and slipped inside, closing the door behind her with a sharp _click_. Through her blurring vision, she could see that she was in Charlie's study. There were papers scattered all over a dark mahogany desk, and upon closer inspection, Emily realised that this must have been where Charlie was when she had knocked on the door. She knew this because on the piece of paper in front of the chair, Charlie seemed to have stopped mid-sentence, and Emily knew that this was something the other woman was not likely to do unless she had a very good reason to stop. She was far too scrupulous when it came to her work.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, Emily raised her eyes to look at the rest of the desk. To her surprise there were a few photo frames on it. Two of which had pictures of herself and Charlie. One of them was from their first year at Yale, just before they had gone out to a party. Emily picked up the second one; it showed herself and Charlie on their graduation day, cap, gown and all. They both looked very happy.

Emily felt the first tear slide down her cheek.

She angrily tried to swipe it away, but it didn't matter how hard she tried, more just kept falling.

She didn't know how she got there, but soon Emily was crouched in the corner of the room with her face buried in her hands and the tears falling thick and fast. The more she tried to control herself and stop crying, the harder and more painful it became.

If possible, her heart plummeted even more when she heard the door open and the soft footsteps of her friend enter the room. Emily had developed rather a complex as a child about people seeing her in an emotional state. Her parents, especially her mother, had always told her _never_ to show weakness in front of people because they would only use it against you later on. However, when she felt her friend arms warp themselves around her and pull her into a hug, Emily couldn't help but feel safe. She allowed herself to be comforted as silent sobs shook her body.

----------------------------

**Author's Note(s):** There was actually more of this that I was going to write, however the chapter was becoming rather long and I wanted to post it tonight.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, although I'm not sure why, and I hope you liked it too. Hehe though for some reason the ones that I like never seem to be as popular as the ones I was less pleased with :p Ah well.

Not entirely decided on what is going to happen in the next chapter, although I have a vague idea. If there is anything anybody would like to see before I finish this story, now is the time to tell me so I can try and fit it in :)

Once again, thank you for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **Again, I really wish I had planned this more because I'm actually making this up as I go along now :p Anyway, a huge thank you to RavennaNightwind, tearbos, bumblebee917, didi2909, anhey20, smokeylove, CrayonsPink (nice name), Dr. Cameron and IheartTV :) Your reviews are very motivating. And as always, thanks to everyone who is still reading. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 13

It was a warm summer's day, and a gentle breeze tickled Hotch's face playfully. He lazed back on his blue sundeck chair and watched as Haley and Jack pushed a beach ball to each other on the soft patch of grass that was their garden. It had been a very long time since he had felt so content. Haley's laughter floated into the air when Jack tried and failed to throw the ball to her, causing it to land a few feet behind him, much to the poor boys confusion.

"Don't make fun of the poor guy," said Hotch, laughter in his voice.

"You're just saying that because he's taking after you. Yet another Hotchner who throws like a girl," teased Haley with a wide grin.

"Hey!" said Hotch, pretending to take offence, "I am an excellent throw, thank you. Much like my son will be with a bit of practice."

Haley smiled and opened her mouth to reply, "_Ring ring_."

"I – What?" Hotch said, furrowing his brows.

"_Ring ring_," Haley repeated. Somehow, the kind smile on her face suddenly seemed a lot colder.

"I don't know what you mean," said Hotch, abruptly feeling rather panicky, although he was not sure why.

"_Ring ring_!" it was angrier now.

---------------------------

Hotch woke with a start.

_Ring ring._

Wanting a moment to wallow in self pity, but knowing he could not, Hotch made a grab for his phone.

"Hotchner," he said by way of greeting.

"Agent Hotchner? It's Bryson. I was told to call you if we had any new leads…"

"Yes, that's right," said Hotch quickly, "What's happened?"

"We got a call from an old woman who owns a small apartment building about six blocks away from where we found the latest bodies. She reckons the unsub has been living in one of her flats and she says he's just gone out carrying a backpack looking completely wasted," Bryson said, sounding slightly out of breath by the time he had finished.

Hotch made some fast calculations in his head and then said, "Set up a grid search of the area immediately. I'll wake my team and we will go and talk to the woman. Name and address please?"

Picking up a pen, Hotch noted down the details on a scrap of paper and then put the phone down, only to pick it straight back up again and dial Morgan's number. It rang out for rather a while before Morgan's groggy voice sounded down the phone.

"This had better be good," Morgan croaked.

"We have a lead. Get up," was all Hotch said, definitely not in the mood for small talk right now.

After mumbling something that Hotch was glad he couldn't hear, Morgan told Hotch that he would be ready in ten minutes. Next he called JJ.

"Hello?" said a voice that was most decidedly more male than it should have been.

For a moment Hotch was stunned, then in the background he could hear JJ say, "Reid, that's my phone."

The sound of the phone switching hands could be heard and then JJ said, "Hotch?"

Recovering quickly, "JJ, we have a lead. You and Reid be ready as soon as you can. Meet in the lobby."

"Right," said JJ. Before Hotch cut her off he could hear her relaying the information to Reid. How very interesting, however now was not the time to dwell on the peculiar sleeping arrangements of his colleagues.

He was rather hesitant about calling Emily, he had been rather harsh with her earlier and Hotch felt a tad guilty about it. But if nothing, Hotch was ever the professional, and he soon dialled Emily's number.

"Prentiss' phone," said a tired voice at the end of the line.

Why can't people just answer their own phones, Hotch thought angrily. He knew that voice but he couldn't quite place it…

"This is Special Agent Hotchner, I would appreciate it if you could put Prentiss on the phone," said Hotch, with as much patience as he could muster.

The person on the phone hesitated, "I'm afraid Emily is somewhat indisposed at the moment, Agent Hotchner. She should be here in a minute though. Is this about the case?"

Ah, now he knew who it was.

"Yes, Doctor Winters. This is about the case. Where is Prentiss?"

"Um…" Charlie sounded rather reluctant to tell him, "She is currently being, for want of a better word… sick."

Damn. Hotch did some quick thinking.

"All right," he finally said, "Don't tell her I called. I'll only call again if we need her."

"Are you suggesting that I lie to my friend?" said Charlie, sounding mildly surprised.

"It isn't really lying, you just don't tell her. Why? Is that a problem?" said Hotch, irritation creeping into his voice despite himself.

"No, of course not. I was just making sure I had the facts straight," replied Charlie with clear amusement.

Hotch cut her off and shook his head with annoyance. Then he went to get dressed.

In no time at all, he was walking towards Morgan, JJ and Reid, who all looked as tired as Hotch himself felt. He wasted no time.

"Come on, let's go," he said, trying to keep the weariness from his voice.

"Where's Emily?" asked Morgan without moving.

"I saw her leave a few hours ago in the car," said Reid absently, "Is she not back yet?"

"You saw her leave and you didn't try to stop her?" said Hotch in disbelief.

Reid looked surprised, "Why would I try to stop her?"

"Why did she leave at all?" asked Morgan, clearly puzzled.

"Now is not the time for this," said Hotch impatiently, "We need to go."

---------------------------

They pulled up outside the building that Agent Bryson had directed them to. One of the agent's men was stood outside, letting Hotch know that they were in the right place. The team filed out of the car and the man greeted them with a tired smile.

"Good morning, Bryson told me to meet you here and catch you up," he said, running his hand through his hair.

Hotch shook hands with him and said, "Good, what can you tell us?"

"Miss Andrea Webb called us approximately an hour a go to tell us that there has been a young man staying in one of her apartments for the last few weeks. She said that just half an hour before she called, he stormed out with a backpack and muttering to himself. She said it was only after he'd gone that she thought this might have something to do with the recent killings and then she phoned us," said the man.

"Thank you," said Hotch, as JJ knocked on the old woman's door.

"I'll go and help with the search then," said the man with another tired smile, "Oh, and Bryson left and extra car for you just in case you needed it."

Hotch thanked him again and then by the time Miss. Webb had answered the door, the man was gone. JJ was the first to greet her, and she introduced Hotch, Morgan and Reid.

Much to Morgan's amusement, the old white haired woman seemed to take an immediate shine to the good Doctor Spencer Reid. She was gazing at him with what could only be described as love in her eyes and when she spoke she spoke directly to him, causally ignoring Hotch, JJ and Morgan.

"Can you describe the man to us?" said Hotch, after she had explained the events leading up to her phone call to them.

"He is about six foot tall and has brown hair and brown eyes. Strong and well built," she said thoughtfully, her eyes never leaving a highly uncomfortable Reid.

"Um…" Reid began nervously, "Is there anything else you can tell us about him? Did you ever speak to him?"

"I spoke to him a few times, love. Very quiet he was. He'd get all twitchy and jumpy when people tried to talk to him. Nervous guy," said Webb, tilting her head slightly as though to get a better look at him.

"Okay, thank you for your time Miss. Webb," said Hotch, deciding to save the poor Doctor.

Reid leapt to his feet immediately, obviously desperate to be as far away from this woman as possible. Before he turned to leave though she grabbed his hand in her old, gnarled ones and stroked his thumb with hers.

"If there is anything else you need," she said in a low voice, "Don't hesitate to call."

Reid squeaked that he would, and then fled the house; an amused Morgan, Hotch and JJ close behind.

"Looks like you got yourself a girlfriend, Reid," said Morgan when they were out of earshot of Miss. Webb.

Even in the dark Hotch could see Reid's cheeks redden as he spluttered to defend himself.

"Okay, we need to split up and search the most likely spots are unsub will be heading for," interrupted Hotch, "Where would you go if you were looking for couples?"

"The movies?" suggested Morgan.

"It's like half past five in the morning, Morgan. Why would anyone be at the movies at this time?" said JJ shaking her head.

"No, Morgan is right. The unsub is quite possibly in a psychotic break and isn't thinking straight. He probably doesn't even know what time it is anymore," said Reid in his statistics voice, "How about the nearest park? He killed his first four victims in a park."

"Okay, Morgan and I will check all the nearby cinemas and Reid and JJ, I want you to go and find the nearest park or similar type of area. I'll call Emily and tell her to meet you there," said Hotch, fishing his phone out of his pocket. The other three agreed and they went their separate ways.

-----------------------------

**Author's Note(s):** And so off go Reid and JJ…alone. This can only end well.

Random Note - Wow, if the fact that I'm posting at almost seven o clock on a Friday night isn't a testament to the extent of my social life then I don't know what is!

Next chapter from either Reid or JJ's point of view, I've not decided yet.

Once again, thanks for reading:)


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **Okay, so I realise it has been a while since I updated and for that I am tremendously sorry. In my defence, my laptop has been broken for the past two and a half weeks and apparently it took the repairmen a stupidly long while to fix it. Can you imagine how painful that was? I mean what is a girl supposed to do with her life without a computer? I could read no fanfic updates, couldn't check the latest Harry Potter or Lost news AND I had no MSN on which to harass my friends. I had to like…go out and be social to pass the time. Sheesh, what is the world coming to when a girl has to go out and make nice in order to idle away the hours? It's a hard life.

Anyway, enough of the excuses that I'm sure half of you don't believe (I know I don't believe most the excuses some fanfic writers give for not updating :p). As always I am enormously grateful to those of you that reviewed, rogueandkurt, Carla-Leigh, didi2009 (Hehe thank you for the motivation, without it you probably would have had to wait an extra couple of days for the chapter because of my general laziness :p), Dr. Cameron, SLITH, RavennaNightwind, smokeylove, IheartTV and summersparkle. You guys are awesome. Also a huge thanks to everyone still reading. Thank you for being so patient with me. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 14

The car journey passed in an invariable silence; both agents lost in their own thoughts. JJ drove because she still hadn't forgiven Reid for his little stint in the snow the previous day. She didn't fancy another injured limb and was taking no chances.

JJ suppressed a yawn as she glanced at the map Reid was holding to make sure she was driving in the right direction. It was utterly ridiculous that they were still looking for this guy; surely they should have caught him by now. By the looks of things he was no genius and Reid was fairly sure he was in a psychotic break. It should not have taken them as long as it did to finally have a vague idea of where to look for him.

Everyone was far to distracted, JJ concluded. They were all too wrapped up in their own problems to devote their full attention to the case. As soon as they had caught this unsub, JJ fully intended to go and sort things out between herself and Emily. They were both adults after all, and avoiding each other wasn't helping anything. Hotch would have to come to terms with the fact that his marriage was coming to an end. And most importantly, Reid needed to stop doing drugs. These things were no small feat, JJ realised, and they all had a long journey ahead of them.

Not for the first time, JJ's mind floated to Gideon. He would have known what to do. There was just something about that man that was soothing, he could solve people's problems with a few kind words and a sad smile. The thing was, JJ wasn't even mad that he had abandoned them. She understood completely. Sometimes their job could be utterly soul destroying, and doing it for as long as Gideon had was bound to have had some kind of adverse effect. If anything JJ simply felt sympathy for the older man and wished that he was having better luck with his life than the rest of his team currently were.

She shook her head in a feeble attempt to empty these thoughts from her head for the time being. While some crazy killer was on the loose, JJ decided that keeping her mind clear of distractions was probably the safest way to go.

As JJ slowed the car to a stop, Reid jumped slightly as though shocked that they had actually arrived at their destination. She chose not to comment however as the young doctor took in a deep calming breath. Obviously his own thoughts had been along the same cheery path that JJ's had been on.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," said Reid in an oddly high pitched voice.

"Maybe what isn't such a good idea?" replied JJ with a sigh, she was not in the mood for Reid's cryptic utterances.

"Us wandering off into the dark with a killer on the loose," said Reid after a brief pause.

"We are F.B.I. agents! We can't not look for a killer because…" then JJ trailed off, realising what he was getting at. Herself and Reid, looking uncomfortably similar to the unsub's preferred victims, sauntering around the unsub's favoured killing grounds possibly wasn't the wisest of plans. Damn it!

Neither of them spoke for a minute and JJ desperately tried to keep her fear at bay.

"We could call Hotch…" said Reid tentatively.

"No," JJ snapped, "If Hotch thought we were in danger he wouldn't have sent us here alone."

"Yes but Hotch isn't exactly fully focussed on the case right now, he probably didn't even realise" Reid pointed out.

"He said he was sending Emily to meet us."

Reid seemed to think about this for a moment, "Well then maybe we should wait for her."

JJ was all for this idea, but her innate stubbornness would not allow her to be cowed by this unsub, regardless of past experiences.

"No, we'll go and have a look around now. Emily will call us when she gets here."

"But what if…"

"Lightning doesn't strike twice, Spencer. We'll be fine," JJ tried to force as much conviction into her voice as possible.

Reid looked unconvinced but then reluctantly agreed. So they took the torches from the glove compartment and set off into the darkness.

Immediately JJ regretted her decision to leave the car, it was impossible to stop herself from jumping at the slightest noise or the rustle of leaves. And though she didn't see it due to the fact that she was to busy concentrating on controlling her own reactions, Reid was having the exact same problem.

This wouldn't be nearly as bloody frightening if it wasn't for all the trees, JJ thought angrily to herself. JJ hated the woods with a passion. But she kept walking forward, torch held firmly ahead and searching for signs of a deranged killer. She let out a small, nervous laugh as she realised that this was really both hers and Reid's worst nightmare. Her with the woods and him with the dark. She turned to express this thought to Reid – who wasn't there.

Her breath caught in her throat and she spun around, "Spence?" she choked out softly.

* * *

"You told Hotch _what now_?" said a furious Emily, as her friend sped down the road to where she knew the closest most likely target would be.

"I may have told him that you weren't entirely well…as an excuse for you not to answer the phone," Charlie said in a stilted voice, she obviously knew she was treading on thin ice right now.

"Why?" asked Emily, trying her utmost to keep a lid on her rising temper.

"Well if I had said you were just sleeping he would have told me to wake you up…"

"Of course he would have! This is my job, Charlotte!" Emily hollered, throwing her arms up in the air with exasperation.

Charlie flinched, but whether it was at the use of her proper name or the tone it was said in, Emily wasn't sure.

"I am truly very sorry. I just didn't want you dragging yourself around the streets of New York with a grand total of an hours sleep in the past two days," said Charlie, and whilst she sounded sincere, Emily knew she would do the exact same thing if the situation were to arise again.

Shaking her head, Emily let out a deep breath, "I hope you know I'm not getting you a birthday present for this."

Charlie shot her an appalled glance before taking a sharp bend, "See, this is what I get for being nice to people. I give and I give and this is what I get in return?" then a small smile curled her lip, "Besides, maybe after your case is over Mr. Tall, Dark and Hansom will be feeling guilty enough to help you through this sudden bout of sickness you have. Or don't have as the case may be…"

"Yes, nothing screams 'good times' like your boss attempting to nurse you back to health from a fake illness," Emily retorted sarcastically.

"Are you saying you wouldn't enjoy a little TLC from Agent Hotchner?"

"He's my boss! If you're implying I have romantic feelings for him…"

"Are you denying it?" said Charlie in that same amused voice.

"I do not fancy Hotch," spluttered Emily.

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much…"

"Grow up! We are on the way to a potential crime scene! In fact, why are you even here? This could be dangerous," said Emily, aware of how defensive she sounded and hating herself for it.

"Exactly, you think I'm going to allow you to go traipsing off alone in the dark in your fragile state?" Charlie told her, and then added, "Plus you don't know the way."

"I'm not in a fragile sta-"

"Spare me the lies please," interrupted Charlie, sounding genuinely annoyed for the first time during the conversation.

"You're staying in the car when we get there," said Emily, changing tactics.

"We'll see," was all Charlie said in reply, taking another bend.

Emily glared at her friend before turning her head to look out the window at the street lamps that seemed to be flying by. If she were honest with herself, Emily was rather glad she wasn't on her own.

After what felt like only a few minutes, but in reality was a good half hour, Charlie slowed the car to a stop outside a foreboding looking woodland area.

"That's not a park," said Emily, suppressing a thrill a fear.

"There is a park in the middle. From this side the trees aren't very thick so it will only take us a few minutes to get to it. Your friends came from the other direction and that's a longer walk so we'll probably get there the same time as them," said Charlie, peering out curiously into the darkness.

"Right."

Emily took a torch from the boot of the car, "There's only one of these," she said, waving it in Charlie's face, "You'll just have to wait here."

Even in the darkness Emily could see Charlie rolling her eyes, "Not going to happen. Let's go."

For a moment, Emily realised she couldn't move. For some reason her legs didn't seem to want to obey her. But noticing the knowing stare her friend was giving her, Emily forced herself to walk forward and not think about the crippling fear that had gripped her heart.

They walked in silence for a minute until Charlie said, "It's actually rather creepy in here at night…"

"I'm inclined to agree," replied Emily, her voice wavering ever so slightly.

There was a faint cry somewhere ahead of them.

"Did you hear that?" said Emily, this time completely failing to keep the fear out of her voice.

"Hear what?"

She heard the cry again, it sounded oddly JJ-like. Making a snap decision, Emily ran forward towards the voice, leaving a confused Charlie behind her.

Emily burst through the trees at exactly the same time as JJ.

"Reid!" JJ was shouting.

"JJ?" said Emily fearfully.

"Emily!" JJ cried, running forward and throwing her arms around the older woman with tears streaming down her face, "I don't know where Spencer's gone. He was right behind me but now I can't find him."

"Is this what they taught you at Quantico?" said an out of breath Charlie, who had just caught up with the two, "You hear potential danger so you barrel off into the darkness after it with no forethought?"

Emily ignored her, "How far back where you when you realised he was gone?" she said to JJ.

"I don't know," JJ sobbed into Emily's shoulder, "About five minutes running distance."

Suddenly, a strangled cry rang out through the trees and the three women looked up in horror.

JJ let out another heartbreaking sob and let go of Emily, "Come on! We have to go and find him."

Fully prepared to follow JJ back into the heart of darkness, Emily took her gun out and they both moved forward.

"Oh no you don't!" said Charlie, pulling back on the two agent's jackets, "You can't go in there on your own. Call your boss."

"You're right," said Emily, quickly fishing around in her pocket for her phone. Then without thinking, she shoved the phone into Charlie's hands, "You call him and tell him where we are."

Then with that, Emily and JJ ran towards the pain filled cry they had heard, leaving an annoyed Charlie behind them.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** So I switched perspectives in this one because…well basically because I wanted to :)

Again, I am sorry for the lack of update for a while. I promise there won't be as long a gap between this chapter and the next one (which I've already started).

Before I go, did you all enjoy the new episode? I did.

Anywho, thanks for reading!

Much love,  
Rubiks


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **A massive thanks torogueandkurt, SLITH, tearbos, didi2909, Carla-Leigh, RavennaNightwind and Dr. Cameron and everyone else who is still reading for your support :) I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I'll admit that writing this has become a bit of a chore, but fear not, I shall persevere and finish it.

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 15

Somewhere between the car and the park, Spencer had overtaken JJ and she was walking a couple of steps behind him. At least that was the case if the sound of soft footsteps following him were anything to go on. Spencer wasn't really thinking about that at the moment though, for he had only just realised that it was absolutely freezing cold. It didn't matter how tightly he pulled his brown jacket around himself, nothing helped to fight off the bitter chill.

He wished JJ hadn't insisted on being stubborn and wandering off on their own. In the _dark_ no less. The only comfort Spencer was drawing was from the constant sound of someone, JJ, trailing him.

Spencer suppressed a yawn, he was exhausted. Not only had he not slept in a stupidly long time, but giving up drugs was bloody hard work. As if his job wasn't difficult enough as it was, there had to be all these other problems piling up on top of it as well. A holiday was definitely in order for the entire team at some point in the near future. A proper holiday though, not a suspension or a couple of weeks off to recover from work related injuries. Somewhere sunny where the likelihood of a sudden serial killing spree was small to none.

The heavy footsteps still followed behind him and Spencer moved his flashlight to look between the trees.

Suddenly there was a piercing cry somewhere to the left of him. Reid spun around to the direction of the voice.

"JJ, did you hear that?"

JJ didn't answer him.

The shout rang out again. Spencer's first reaction was utter bewilderment, it sounded exactly like JJ and it sounded awfully like she was shouting his name, but that wasn't possible. JJ was behind him. But then again, since when had JJ been so heavy footed?

Before he could react, two strong hands wrapped themselves around his neck, effectively preventing him from crying out. He tried to turn and fight off his attacker, however his erratic punching, kicking and biting was not enough to overcome the sheer brute force of the man holding on to him. Spencer tried to clear his head and think of a logical means of escape, but the panic and the fact that the man was now dragging him by the scruff of his neck through the woods prevented him from doing so.

"Stop struggling," the man said in a low voice, "Trust me. This is for your own good."

Spencer squeaked and tried to reply, but one of the man's hands had moved to cover his mouth, making it difficult for Spencer to breathe, let alone speak. So he took the time to study his captor in hopes of finding some sort of weakness. The man was tall and strong, but the thing that struck Spencer the most was the way his eyes darted around and the way he moved like a caged animal.

They were in a very small clearing now. The man threw Spencer down at the foot of a smallish tree before fishing a long coil of thin rope from his backpack and wrapping it around both the tree and Spencer. As soon as Spencer found his voice, he let out a shrill cry, hoping to let JJ know where he was. The man reacted quickly though and struck Spencer painfully across the face, effectively silencing him for the time being. He gasped in pain and tried not to whimper.

He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to clear his head, whilst he would much rather have rubbed his face where the large man had struck him, he instead found his voice and tentatively started to talk to the man.

"Who are you?" he said in a quite voice.

The man grunted and for a moment Spencer thought he wasn't going to reply, then, "You can call me Dylan."

"Why have you brought me here, Dylan?" Spencer said in the same quite voice, he didn't want to agitate his captor again.

"Where is your girlfriend?" said Dylan, look furtively between the trees.

Hesitating for only a second, Spencer replied, "I don't have a girlfriend."

This simply seemed to anger the man more, and he sprung towards Spencer again, obviously with the intention of hitting him again.

"Wait!" cried Spencer as loudly as he could, "Stop. The woman I was with isn't my girlfriend."

His shout seemed to distract Dylan for long enough for him to forget his anger, the manic glint in his eye remained though. He began to pace in front of Spencer.

"You don't have to lie to me, son. Just tell me where she is," he said in what he obviously thought was a kind voice.

"I'm here with you, so even if she was my girlfriend, I couldn't tell you where she was," Spencer pointed out, trying to keep his panic at bay. Although the likelihood of him being to reason his way out of this one was slim, he was still going to try.

"It's okay, boy. You can tell me. It will be for your own good. I promise. She'll only break your heart anyway," said Dylan, still pacing.

"Maybe if you untied me, we could look for her together," suggested Spencer hopefully. He obviously had no intention of leading this man to JJ, but maybe he could escape if he were untied.

Dylan shook his head sadly, "I don't think so, son. Why don't you just point me in the right direction and I'll bring her to you?"

Casting his mind about, Spencer tried to think of a way to change the subject, "What is your second name, Dylan?"

"Drayton-Corbett," the man grunted, then he added darkly, "Or at least it would have been."

"Would have been?" asked Spencer before he could stop himself.

"Yes," Dylan blurted out violently, "If that stupid whore hadn't ran off with our bloody dentist it would have been!"

"Who-Who's that? Your fiancé?"

"Yes," said Dylan, again using the same vicious tone, "She broke my heart, just like women always do."

"Is that why you are killing couples?" asked Spencer softly.

Dylan obviously did not like this line of questioning, for his pacing seemed to quicken and become more agitated, "I'm saving them from the inevitable heartbreak!" he cried, acting quite hysterical, "It hurts so much more than any physical pain, I'm doing them a favour!"

"Not all relationships end badly you know," Spencer pointed out.

The large man snorted, "Oh yea? You married?"

Spencer faltered, "Well no…"

"Your mom and dad still together?"

"No, but-"

"See! All relationships end with one person, usually the man, completely destroyed," interrupted Dylan furiously. For a second, Spencer feared he was going to hit him again, but instead he just kicked his backpack, sending some of the contents sprawling across the floor.

It was true that Spencer had never been in a successful relationship before, it was something he dwelled on often. He had had girlfriends, but they had been few and far between. He suppressed a sigh and the bitter pang of loneliness that often accompanied these thoughts. As he looked up to watch Dylan angrily throw his things back into his bag, something caught his eye. JJ and Prentiss where slowly making their way over to the clearing, being very careful not to be seen. He felt a surge of hope.

Dylan stood up again, bag in hand, "Well then, I'm off to look for your girlfriend-"

"FREEZE!" shouted JJ and Prentiss simultaneously, holding their guns in front of them, trained at Dylan's head.

Rather than freeze though, the man rapidly drew a long knife from his bag and pressed it to Spencer's neck, while spinning himself around so he was effectively using the tree and Spencer himself as a shield.

Spencer gulped.

--

**Author's Note(s):** For some reason I don't feel this flows quite as well as other chapters have done…I'm at a loss about how to fix it though so I'm afraid it will just have to make do.

Slightly random note: How do you feel about the potential up and coming pregnancy storyline? I'm feeling rather ambivalent about it.

Hope you liked this chapter,

Rubiks


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **As predictable as this is, thank you to everyone who is reading and to those of you that have taken the time to review, namely SLITH, RavennaNightwind, sid, TJ, didi2909 and tearbos. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 16

JJ watched in horror as the unsub pressed the sharp knife into Reid's neck, biting into his skin painfully. Thankfully it was not hard enough to draw blood. She mentally cursed herself for her earlier 'lightning doesn't strike twice' comment, she had clearly jinxed them. Not that she believed in jinxes and suchlike. If she did she might be inclined to believe that her and her team had been placed under some kind of bad luck curse. They had certainly had their fair share of misfortune lately.

"Drop the weapon," said Emily loudly, effectively rousing JJ from her macabre thoughts.

"There's no getting away now," added JJ, "Just let Reid go."

Even though it was still dark, JJ saw Reid look up to the sky, almost as though praying. If anything, this made JJ even more determined to save him.

"So your girlfriend came after all, boy," observed the unsub, shooting JJ an appraising look and sending shivers down her spine.

In response, Reid merely whimpered and adopted a pleading expression on his face.

Emily lowered her gun slightly, "What's your name?"

The unsub hesitated before saying, "Dylan."

"Okay, Dylan. Why don't you put down that knife so we can talk?" said Emily in a soothing voice. JJ marvelled over her ability to remain calm.

Just for a moment, Dylan actually seemed to consider doing what Emily told him too. However he obviously decided against it as he tightened his grip around Reid and said, "You'll just shoot me if I let go of him!"

"We won't hurt you, Dylan. We just want to talk," said JJ in what she hoped was an understanding tone.

Dylan didn't even seem to register what she was saying, "Your girlfriend's pretty, boy. But don't worry, once I'm through with her she won't be anymore. She'll be as ugly on the outside as she is on the inside."

JJ and Emily shared an alarmed look.

"Dylan, JJ and Reid aren't a couple," Emily pointed out, hoping to make the man see sense.

"Don't lie to me!" Dylan howled, pushing the knife just a little harder and causing Reid to give a small cry of pain as a small trickle of blood slid down his neck.

"Okay! Okay, just calm down," said JJ, holding her hands out in a sign of compliance.

"I am calm!"

JJ flinched as Reid made another small sound of pain. If they could just keep him talking until Hotch and Morgan arrived maybe everything would be okay.

"Dylan, there are three of us here. We couldn't possibly be a couple," JJ pointed out.

"Don't lie to me! I saw you two together before. I know that one," he gestured towards Emily, "only came afterwards."

"Look, we just want to help you. So why don't you put the knife down?" said Emily.

"I've an idea, why don't _you_ put yours guns down and then maybe we can talk?" said Dylan, his voice becoming oddly high pitched and panicky. This was not a good sign.

The two women hesitated, they couldn't put themselves at such a disadvantage, but this man was obviously highly disturbed and was likely to kill Reid accidentally if he became too riled. They had no choice but to do what he said if they wanted Reid back in one piece.

"How about," Emily began slowly, "If just I put my gun down, then it will make us even."

After thinking for a second, Dylan nodded vigorously in agreement.

"But if I do this, then you have to move the knife away from Reid's neck," said Emily firmly.

"No! He'll escape!"

"He's tied to a tree," said JJ quickly, "He isn't going anywhere."

Reluctantly, Dylan nodded again and moved the knife forward so it was no longer actually touching Reid's neck. Emily held out her gun and then let it drop to the floor beside her with an ominous thud.

"Why are you doing this, Dylan?" asked JJ softly, maybe if she could make him think that they understood him, he would be more inclined to listen to them.

"I don't want to," replied Dylan, his voice breaking with emotion, "But I have to do this."

"No you don't, Dylan. You can walk away from this right now and come with us. We promise we won't hurt you," said Emily earnestly.

"You don't understand," said Dylan, his eyes now filling with tears, "I can't stop. I tried. I really did. I even went to a psychiatrist to see if she could help me."

"You didn't really stay long enough for the psychiatrist to help you though, did you? You ran away," JJ pointed out, making sure that her gun was still aimed firmly at his head.

"That's because her stupid secretary wanted to hurt me!" Dylan yelled, he was becoming angry again, "All women want to do is hurt us! You are evil!"

JJ suddenly regretted leaving Charlie back in that park. She might have been useful. Glancing sideways, JJ judged that by the faint look of annoyance on Emily's face that she was thinking the exact same thing.

"If you come with us, maybe we can take you back to the psychiatrist and she still can help you," JJ suggested. She of course had no intention of doing anything of the kind, but at this point JJ was willing to say anything to get that lunatic away from Spencer, even if it meant lying through her teeth. But apparently not even lies were going to change the unsub's mind, for he shook his head angrily at her.

"No! It's too late now. There's no turning back."

"So what are you going to do then?" said Emily, sounding resigned to the fact that there probably was not going to be a peaceful resolution to this conflict.

The man thought for a moment before saying, "I'm going to untie the boy," this sounded promising, JJ thought, "And I'm going to take him with me," then again, maybe not, "You are going to put the gun down sweetheart," fat chance of that happening, "And then you are going to watch me leave, and you aren't going to follow me because if you do I'll kill him."

"I don't think so, Dylan. We know who you are. We are the FBI, and it doesn't matter how far you run, we will find you. Your only option is to surrender," said JJ, narrowing her eyes. Beside her she felt more than saw Emily shoot her a warning look.

Something suddenly seemed to click in Dylan's mind. He screamed and flung the knife towards JJ and Emily, and at the exact same time a deafening shot was fired.

--

**Author's Note(s):** My goodness, the poor BAU have the worst luck in the world. It's a wonder they aren't all raving psychopaths by now with all the stuff they've been though.

Last nights episode of Criminal Minds awesome. Did anyone else just want to give Reid a big hug and protect him from all the evils of the world? Poor guy. I would have saved him from the football bullies!

So I hope you enjoyed this annoyingly short chapter,

Rubiks :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** See chapter 1

**Author's Note(s): **All I can do is say I'm sorry :-( Real life has a way of sneaking up on you! Anyway, big thanks to ssbailey, smokeylove, SLITH, tearbos, RavennaNightwind, TJ, brihana25 and Sue1313 and also to everyone else who is still reading and has managed to put up with my sporadic and erratic posting. Hope you enjoy the last chapter!

**Easier to Lie  
**Chapter 17

Hotch lowered his gun and surveyed the surroundings with a quick sweeping glance. The unsub lay dead on the floor at Reid's feet. The poor boy had a look of utmost horror on his face as he stared immovably at the corpse.

"Hey, Reid," said Morgan, walking forward past Hotch to pull him back from the body, "You okay, man?"

Reid seemed to gulp a little before looking up at Morgan with frightened eyes, "Um…Yea I think so."

Taking in the bruises that were quickly developing on the boys face, Hotch suspected that Reid wasn't quite as okay as he was letting on. But he pushed this thought out of his mind for a moment and looked up to where JJ and Emily both sat on the floor, staring up at the long knife that had been embedded in the tall tree in between them, missing them both by a mere few inches.

JJ was the first person to gather herself. She pushed herself wearily into a standing position and then took Emily's hands and pulled her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" asked Emily, suddenly snapping out of her paralysed stupor.

"Yep, apart from the large bruise I think I'm getting from where you pushed me onto the floor," said JJ with mild tone of amusement in her voice, "How about you?"

"I'm good," said Emily with an apologetic smile. The merest flicker of understanding seemed to pass between the two women.

They then both turned to look at Hotch, who had watched the exchange with some interest. In the distance Hotch could here the sound of police sirens. When he had received a call from Emily's friend telling him that JJ and Emily had taken off into the dark after the unsub, who had conveniently kidnapped Reid, Hotch's first reaction had been to call the rest of the police force they had at their disposal. _Just in case._ He also had a paramedic waiting for them because at the rate things were going, it was a rare occasion when one of his team weren't injured in some way. Judging from the bruising on Reid's face, Hotch had been right.

He blinked in an effort to clear his thoughts and turned to look back at Reid, who was currently being steered off towards the sound of sirens by a determined Morgan.

"Who was he?" asked Hotch, fixing his gaze back onto Emily and JJ.

JJ shrugged, "Said his name was Dylan."

"He didn't give us a last name," added Emily.

Hotch felt himself nodding slowly. The gravity of the situation had suddenly hit him and he wasn't entirely sure what to do about it. Three of his agents could have died. _Again_. The sense of relief that flooded him was almost overwhelming. When he had seen the unsub with that knife, Hotch thought his heart had actually stopped. Nothing in the world could have prevented him from firing that shot to protect his team.

"You okay, Hotch?" said JJ, shooting him an odd look.

For a second, Hotch couldn't respond. But he quickly found his voice and said, "Come on, we should go with Reid to the ambulance. Are either of you hurt?"

"Nope," replied JJ firmly, "We're fine."

Hotch gave them a stiff nod and turned on his heel to follow his other agents. Behind him, he could hear JJ and Emily doing the same.

"Hey, Hotch," said Emily, speeding up to walk to beside him, "Have you seen Charlie?"

"No, but if she's still here she can follow the sound of the sirens," he said reassuringly. Emily nodded and looked just a tad guilty. He fleetingly wondered why, but decided not to pry.

"Thanks for saving us again, Hotch," said JJ from his other side, "What would we do without you?"

She grinned slightly. He disagreed with what she was saying, he was doing a terrible job of keeping his team safe, but he was glad she was in good enough spirits despite their recent trauma. It was the first genuine smile he had seen on her face for quite some time.

--

It didn't take them long to get out of those God awful woods, and JJ was intensely grateful when they finally broke through the thick foliage and out into the open air. She was ridiculously tired and right now all she could think about was going to bed, despite the fact that it was starting to get light again.

Reid was already being seen to by a paramedic, with Morgan hovering over him like an over-protective older brother. Spencer himself seemed a little shocked and was staring in front of him with widened eyes and his mouth agape. JJ couldn't believe they'd almost lost him again, things where getting just a little bit absurd now. They all needed to sit down and have a serious chat about keeping themselves in line. She wasn't sure she could cope with another episode like this. Her line of work was dangerous of course, and there was always going to be some unfortunate situations where people's lives would be in danger. But she suspected there was more they could be doing to prevent them from happening.

As they made their way over to share the details of what had happened with the local police force, an extremely irate looking Charlie stormed over to them. She glared at Emily with as much fury as she could muster.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" she said angrily.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean…" said Emily, shifting uncomfortably.

"Oh, you've forgotten have you? Well allow me to refresh your memory," said Charlie, her voice slowly increasing in volume, causing Emily to visibly cringe and seek out JJ as though she could somehow stop this inevitable tirade, "First, you run off into the night towards the sounds of pained yelps, then after finding out that the source of these sounds were relatively harmless you decide once again to delve into the heart of darkness after more potential danger while there is a psychotic serial killer on the loose. Leaving me stranded alone in the pitch black no less!"

"Um…Well…" began Emily.

"In our defence, we did just safe Reid from a murderous killer," said JJ reasonably.

"It's true," said Emily quickly, "We did."

Charlie crossed her arms and glanced over to where Reid sat in the ambulance talking to Hotch and Morgan, she then let out a deep sigh, "All right then. I suppose I'll have to let you off just this once."

JJ smiled slightly at the look of relief that crossed Emily's face at this piece of news. Maybe it was pure exhaustion, but JJ was beginning to find this whole situation rather amusing. She was tipsy from lack of sleep.

"Hey, Jayje, you all right?" said Emily with a note of concern in her voice.

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm just glad this is all over," said JJ reassuringly, then she added, "But I'd quite like to go to bed now."

"Wouldn't we all," mumbled Emily in response.

Opening her mouth, JJ began to reply but was cut off by the sound of yet another police car pulling up to a screeching halt in front of them. JJ flinched at the noise and suddenly realised that she seemed to have developed a rather severe headache in the last couple of hours. The pain in her head increased exponentially when she saw who was getting out the car. The almost silent groan from Emily told JJ that the other woman was suffering from the same side effects, to a disease she was now thinking of as 'Regal-itis'.

A red faced, angry short man stepped out the car. Sheriff Regal surveyed all the activity around him with unbridled fury. He spotted JJ and made a beeline for her and she mentally cursed herself for standing within range of sight.

"Who's this attractive fellow?" muttered Charlie, eyeing the bulging vein on the man's forehead that looked like it was about to explode.

"Good morning, Sheriff Regal," said JJ as the man drew level with them, "Is there a problem?"

The man spluttered and squeaked ungracefully, "Yes there's a problem! Why was I not told before now what was going on? This is my case!"

"There was no time, Sheriff," said Emily diplomatically, "You were contacted as soon as someone was available to do so."

"That's just not good enough, we should have been told immediately," said Regal, now gesticulating wildly and looking rather crazed, in JJ's opinion.

"Look," Emily snapped, "We came here on _your_ request. We did a job, and now we're leaving."

"You caught the guy then?" Regal snorted disbelievingly.

"Yes. Yes we did. He's over there in the woods," said JJ, pointing through the trees, "He's all yours. You can have him."

"You can have all the paperwork that comes with it too if you'd like. That can be arranged, can't it JJ?" said Emily, looking to JJ with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh yes, that can certainly be done," JJ agreed, "We'll have everything sent over to your office as soon as possible Sheriff."

"But for now I suggest you go and find that body," said Emily.

"Yes, you wouldn't want him disappearing again after all," added JJ.

Regal's face had become so alarmingly red, that JJ wouldn't have been surprised if steam had started gushing from his ears followed by a high pitched squealing noise. He opened and closed his mouth like a demented goldfish and alternated between scowling at Emily and JJ, obviously unsure as to who he was angrier at.

"Go on then," said JJ finally, "You have a body to collect."

Holding his head high, Regal went to move past them in what he apparently thought was a dignified manner. JJ was having none of that though, she stuck her foot out without thinking and sent Regal crashing to the ground.

"ARGH!" he cried and he fell face first into a puddle of mud. JJ felt her mouth fall open in shock, she hadn't actually meant to trip him up. She almost didn't hear the barely restrained chuckles from the nearby agents, who were securing the scene, and she certainly didn't miss Charlie's outright laughing.

Regal leapt to his feet with a look of the highest embarrassment mixed in with a generous portion of anger, "You just assaulted me!"

Shrugging, JJ shook her head, "I didn't touch you. You just fell down."

"It's true. I saw it happen," added Emily, her voice soaked with sincerity.

"It isn't my fault if you have poor balance," JJ said with another shrug.

Dripping with mud, the horrified Regal looked to Charlie for support, who simply bore a confused expression and said, "Don't look at me. I clearly saw you trip over your own feet."

Regal threw his arms up in resentful rage and stormed away, but not before throwing JJ the filthiest look he possibly could.

After he was out of earshot, Emily turned to face JJ and said thoughtfully, "And suddenly this case all became so very worthwhile…"

"I think mud is a good look on him to be honest," replied JJ.

"Well, folks," interrupted Charlie while looking at her watch, "I have to be in work in less than three hours, so I'm afraid I shall have to depart. I don't think my clients would appreciate me turning up in clothes I wore yesterday and looking like I was just dragged backwards through a hedge."

Emily did a good job of hiding the fleeting look of disappointment in her face, but if JJ caught it then she was fairly sure that Charlie had done too.

"All right then," said Emily with a rather false smile, "Well it was nice seeing you. We should get together more often."

"We should," Charlie agreed, then she moved forward and shook JJ's hand, "It was lovely to meet you, Agent Jareau. You and Emily make an excellent team."

"You too, Doctor Winters," said JJ with a smile, "Thank you for your help."

Charlie turned to leave but Emily caught her by the arm and pulled her into a hug. Charlie stiffened for a moment but quickly returned it and shook her head in mild amusement, "Yes, Emily. I love you too."

They broke apart and Emily moved to stand beside JJ with an undeniably sad expression on her face.

"Call me when you get home," said Charlie softly, and then she turned once again and left.

They stood in silence for a minute, oblivious to the hustle and bustle that went on around them. Then Emily said quietly, "You know…You forget sometimes that this job doesn't have to be your whole life. It…It consumes you. I can't remember the last time I did something just for fun or just because I felt like it. Everything revolves around the job…"

Unable to think of anything to say to this, mainly because Emily had just expressed her own exact feelings, JJ simply reached out and took Emily's hand in her own.

"I just don't want us to turn into Gideon," said Emily with a sigh.

"We won't," said JJ definitively, "We're going to be fine, Emily."

Emily let out a short laugh and squeezed JJ's fingers in her own, "I think so too."

"Come on," said JJ, "Let's go and see how Reid is doing. I'm going to buy him a leash when we get back to the BAU…Do you know any good pet stores?"

"Ha, I know just the place. We can go before our next case."

"Fantastic."

--

"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." _- George Washington_

--

**Author's Note(s):** Sorry about the rather naff ending. I'm not good at writing a decent conclusion to my stories! Something I need to work on. But I hope you liked it anyway.

ARGH£"£SKJ;L£DFKL;" have you seen the monstrosity that was the last episode of Criminal Minds!? As if they blew somebody up! I am shocked and horrified. For the record, my money is on it being Hotch. I think this is what all his personal trauma and stuff has been leading up to. I think he has to hit rock bottom before things can start to look up again. Maybe I'm wrong though –Rant Ends Here–.

Random Note: I just got myself a livejournal. Well…Not _just_. I actually have had it for a while but only just started using it. Anyway, if anyone fancies a Criminal Minds related chat, or to poke me for not updating my stories…or for a general natter really…My username is 'msrubiks'. Add me :-)

Anyway, thank you for reading all this. I really appreciate it. And good luck to those poor souls out there that are still doing exams!

Much love,  
Rubiks


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